But then, in 2014, the Justice Department launched a clemency initiative aimed at soliciting applications from federal prison inmates serving long sentences for offenses – mostly drug-related – that would receive shorter sentences if convicted today. Nearly all are men, though they represent a diverse cross-section of America geographically.
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Correspondents say that Mr Obama’s drive to reduce the sentences of non-violent drug offenders as part of his clemency initiative reflects his long-held belief that the United States needs to introduce less severe sentencing requirements.
Eggleston once again called on Congress to pass legislation overhauling the USA criminal justice system.
One inmate, Dicky Joe Jackson of Texas, was sentenced to life in 1996 for methamphetamine violations and being a felon with an unlicensed gun.
The president’s clemency power usually takes one of two forms: Pardons, which give offenders a full legal forgiveness for their crimes, and commutations, which shorten prison sentences but often leave other conditions intact.
That’s more than the last nine presidents combined and the most in a single day in over a century, the White House said.
Sixty-seven of those receiving commutations were serving life sentences.
Today, President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of more than 200 people incarcerated in federal prison, nearly all for drug offenses.
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, a former prisoner of war, said Trump did not have “unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us”.
For his part, Donald Trump has said he thinks Democratic contender Hillary Clinton to be “unfit to serve in any government office”.
Obama has long called for phasing out strict sentences for drug offenses, arguing they lead to excessive punishment and incarceration rates unseen in other developed countries.
“And today, I’m commuting the sentences of an additional 214 men and women who are just as deserving of a second chance”.
Obama has ratcheted up the pace of commutations during the final months of his time in office. “And everybody remembers the Willie Horton ad”, he said, referring to the attack ad George H.W. Bush ran against his opponent, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, showing a convicted murderer going through a revolving door to commit more crimes.
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