Giving Compass' Take:

• The Marshall Project tells the story of Bernard Noble, a Louisiana man released from prison after serving seven years of a 13-year sentence for marijuana possession — he was a symbol of over-incarceration and harsh drug penalties.

• Are we any closer to reforming the criminal justice system so cases like Noble's are fewer and further between? Consistent and determined advocacy directed toward policy-makers makes a difference.

• Here's how data can create address the issues of fairness when it comes to incarceration.

Bernard Noble, who became a national symbol of harsh drug laws after he was sentenced to 13 years of hard labor for carrying about two joints worth of marijuana, was released from prison recently.

Noble, 51, was freed on parole after his lawyer and a team of advocates — including billionaire New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb — spent years pressing courts, governors and lawmakers to reverse the long sentence. He ultimately served seven years in prison.

“I really felt special, seeing my family and everyone waiting for me,” Noble told The Marshall Project by phone after he walked out of Bossier Parish Medium Security Prison, where his mother, sister, and other family members awaited his release.

“I cried a lot of times in prison silently because you can’t do it out loud in a treacherous place like that. But I always said, ‘one day it’s gonna get better,’ ” he said.

His freedom marked the end of a convoluted and high-profile legal journey that began in 2010, when he was arrested while biking in New Orleans, where he was visiting family. Police said they found about three grams of marijuana in his possession.

Noble was sentenced in 2011 under what were then some of the toughest drug laws and sentencing practices in the country. Because he had been convicted of having small amounts of cocaine and marijuana multiple times in the past, Noble was sentenced to 13 years of hard labor, without the possibility of parole, under Louisiana’s “habitual offender” law.

Amid growing unease over the nation’s high incarceration rate, the case became a rallying cry for revising tough drug laws dating to the 1980s and 90s. Noble’s sentence seemed especially unfair when other states were legalizing pot for medical and personal use.

Read the full article about Bernard Noble getting released from prison by Nicole Lewis and Maurice Chammah at The Marshall Project.