On Tuesday, Obama commuted the sentences of another 111 prisoners, the second time he’s given commutations this month, according to the White House.
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The executive action granted the most commutations by an American president in a single day, according to the White House, and raised Obama’s August commutation total to 325, the highest number in any month in American history.
Earlier this month, Obama commuted the sentences of 214 federal inmates, the most in a single day by any president in USA history.
Michael Points of Louisville was charged in 2006 with possession with intent to distribute cocaine base.
Hal Q. Mincy of Cleveland, Ohio, convicted of possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of cocaine base (crack). The president commuted the sentence to 15 years. To date, President Obama has granted 673 commutations: more commutations than the previous ten presidents combined. Thirty-five of those who were granted relief Tuesday had been serving life sentences.
Prisoners benefitting from these shortened sentences are supposed to no longer present a threat.
White House Counsel Neil Eggleston said the president gives each case special attention. For most, Obama commuted their sentences to end on December 28. Most of those who will be released early as a result of the commutations are nonviolent drug offenders who would have received lesser sentences under today’s sentencing laws.
That’s more commutations in a month than any president has granted in an entire year, over almost a century, the White House said.
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The commutations highlight the need for criminal justice reform legislation, including reforms that address excessive mandatory minimum sentences, he wrote. Such legislation has stalled, undercut by a rash of summer shootings involving police and the pressure of election-year politics. The 325 commutations the President has granted in just one month is more than any president granted in a single year for almost a century. Her sentence was commuted to expire December 28.
