Obama’s push to lessen the burden on nonviolent drug offenders reflects his long-stated view that the US needs to remedy the consequences of decades of onerous sentencing requirements that put tens of thousands behind bars for far too long.
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One of the inmates, Dicky Joe Jackson of Texas, was given a life sentence in 1996 for methamphetamine violations and for being a felon with an unlicensed gun.
Among the 214 people who saw their requests for clemency granted, 67 of them were serving life sentences. She explained: “Those guidelines apply to inmates who have spent at least 10 years behind bars for nonviolent drug crimes – small players, not kingpins – people who would’ve received less prison time if they were convicted of laws on the books today”.
The life sentence for Martin Ruiz Singh of Marshalltown was commuted to 20 years. Both Brown’s and Jackson’s sentences will now end December 1, along with most of the rest of those receiving commutations Wednesday.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that President Obama’s Administration is committed to a “smooth” transition to the next president.
Ernest Spiller of East St. Louis, Ill., was convicted of running a crack house in a local neighborhood, distributing crack cocaine on more than one occasion, and of possessing a firearm as a felon to carry out his drug trafficking crimes. “Since taking office, President Obama has fought for a smarter and more equitable criminal justice system”, The White House said in a blog post. He called on Congress to finally pass a criminal justice overhaul to bring about “lasting change to the federal system”.
“Altogether, I’ve commuted more sentences than the past nine presidents combined, and I am not done yet”, Obama wrote on Facebook.
In total President Obama has granted clemency to 562 people, more than any other president in modern history.
Eggleston went on to note that Obama’s clemency process, while powerful, falls short of much-needed sentencing and overall criminal justice reform.
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A statement from the Justice Department called the move a step toward restoring “proportionality to unnecessarily long drug sentences”.
