President Barack Obama cut short the prison terms of 214 convicts on Wednesday, the largest number of commutations a US leader has granted in single day since at least 1900, the White House said.
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One of the 214 is from Oregon. She will be released two years from now if she enrolls in drug treatment in prison. Prison sentence commuted to expire on December 1, 2016. To date, Obama has moved to commute a grand total of 562 federal inmates, which is more than the last nine US presidents combined.
The commutations highlighted the president’s push to address drug crime sentences that critics say contribute to excessive punishment and incarceration rates.
The administration has also reviewed clemency requests from prisoners who have served at least 10 years of their sentences and have shown good behavior while behind bars.
The sentences of most of those affected by the president’s order will now end on 1 December, officials say.
Almost all of those affected are men and nearly all have been convicted of nonviolent drug crimes related to the possession or distributions of drugs including marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine. The White House called on Congress to work on bipartisan criminal justice reform to help decrease America’s prison population on a much larger scale. The White House said in a statement that the president will continue commuting the sentences of inmates through his remaining months in office.
“Our work is far from finished”, White House counsel Neil Eggleston said about the commutations.
Brown was convicted in U.S. Central District Court in IL of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and received a 20-year prison sentence.
Millard was convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and use of communication facility to distribute methamphetamine.
Still, 562 might not be the height of Obama’s commutation legacy.
He boasted about the amount of commutations he has issued as president in an interview with National Public Radio in July.
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A commutation is a modification or reduction of a sentence as opposed to a pardon, which wipes out the conviction.
