Sentencing reform for drug offenders has become a major national issue amid rising concern about the expansion of the USA prison system, which now incarcerates more people per capita than any another nation in the world, and shifting public attitudes towards drugs.
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The White House counsel, Neil Eggleston, said he expects Obama will continue to grant commutations through the end of his presidency, which ends on January 20. So the president has moved to unilateral actions; according to the White House, Obama’s 673 commutations are more than the last 10 presidents combined.
The president has argued many non-violent drug offenders serving time in federal and state prisons deserve a second chance. More than one-third of the recipients were serving life sentences, according to The White House.
Hal Mincy, of Cleveland, was serving a 20-year sentence for possession with the intent to distribute crack. “He has been committed to using all the tools at his disposal to remedy the unfairness at the heart of the system-including the presidential power to grant clemency”. Such legislation has stalled – undercut by a rash of summer shootings involving police and the pressure of election-year politics – but after meetings in Detroit on Tuesday, Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, predicted criminal justice overhaul will eventually pass. “At our current pace, we are confident that we will be able to review and make a recommendation to the president on every single drug petition we now have”, Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates told NPR. He is now set to be released on August 30, 2018, conditioned upon enrollment in residential drug treatment. Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an advocacy group, said it had been working on the Tyler family’s behalf. TheOffice of Pardon Attorney has received thousands of requests for clemency and has struggled to keep up with its commitment to commuting the sentences of nonviolent prisoners that meet specific criteria.
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The release dates for the inmates vary.
