Boston Launching Re-Entry Program, Beefing Up Police After Inmate Release Over Botched Drug Tests

Government officials worry violent criminals have been released

Warning that hundreds of violent criminals with histories of drug trafficking could soon be released into city neighborhoods, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and public safety officials on Thursday announced plans to launch an emergency reentry program and put more police on the streets in preparation for the fallout of the ongoing investigation into evidence tampering at a state drug lab.

Meanwhile, civil rights advocates called for the blanket release of all non-violent drug offenders convicted based upon evidence handled by discredited former drug lab chemist Annie Dookhan, and for the records of potentially thousands more felons to be expunged.