A Minneapolis man serving 27 years for selling methamphetamine and ecstasy is among the 111 federal inmates whose prison sentences were shortened by President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
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President Obama commuted the sentences of 111 individuals on Tuesday, meaning he has now granted early release to 673 prisoners. Under the president’s action, Williams’ sentence is expected to expire on August 30, 2018 – under the condition he enroll in a residential drug treatment program. He was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and use of a communication facility, according to information provided by the White House in a news release.
About a third had been handed sentences of life in prison. On May 19, 2000, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $5,000. 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. To date, the President has granted commutations to more prisoners than the past ten presidents combined. Obama commuted his term to 240 months behind bars. Since then, Obama has commuted 637 sentences overall-most of those for nonviolent drug offenders. On Aug. 3, President Obama reduced the sentences of 214 people. Another 61 people saw their sentences commuted in May.
Despite these efforts, Eggleston said, there is still a need for Congress to pass reforms that “address excessive mandatory minimum sentences”. However, legislation aimed at ending unduly harsh sentencing for drug offenses remain stalled on Capitol Hill. Her new sentence was supposed to end last month.
Obama’s goal with most of these clemency grants is to apply the same sentences to nonviolent drug offenders as if they were convicted today.
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Eggleston said Obama considered the individual merits of each application to determine that an applicant is ready to make use of their second chance. That being said, Eggleston cautions that only congressionally passed legislation can “achieve the broader reforms needed to ensure our federal sentencing system operates more fairly and effectively”.
