“And I believe these folks deserve their second chance”, Obama said in a White House video. But with a stroke of a pen, Obama said Martin will be free in June 2018.
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US President Barack Obama on Friday commuted the prison sentences of 42 people, majority non-violent drug offenders, reflecting his calls for criminal justice reform.
Most of the individuals were non-violent drug offenders. The pace has increased substantially as Obama approaches the end of his presidency.
Of the 48 people who had their sentences shortened on Friday, 20 were serving life terms.
Eggleston said Obama “remains committed to using his clemency power” for his remaining six months in office in order to give deserving individuals a “second chance”. He is being held in Sumter County, and, according to the Enquirer, he will be moved to a halfway house in Florida and serve time there until a scheduled October release. The sentence came after a federal jury convicted him of conspiracy, possession of crack and powder cocaine with intent to distribute it, and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. “I wake up every day and pray in a cell that’s white and grey with little room to move around in between me and my cellmate”, Dunkins wrote in an opinion piece previous year in The Guardian.
Last July, he called for the reduction or elimination of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug-related offenses.
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The Obama administration has also expanded criteria for inmates applying for clemency, targeting nonviolent offenders who have behaved well in prison and would have received shorter sentences if convicted of the same crime a few years later.
