Dwayne White stood outside the Greyhound bus depot in Birmingham, Alabama, two weeks ago taking in the night air and cityscape.

That Friday morning, a staff member had appeared at his federal prison cell in FCI Yazoo City to tell him he’d been granted an early release after serving most of his adult life in prison.

Now, 12 years after he was handed a heavy 25-year sentence despite a limited criminal past and playing just a minor role in a drug stash-house robbery sting, White was headed home.

His release was the culmination of years of controversy and litigation over the so-called stash-house stings, a government program designed to go after repeat violent offenders that led to lengthy, mandatory sentences based on drugs that never existed, as well as allegations that the operations disproportionately targeted Black men.

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