Obama commutes 111 federal sentences and sets a one-month record
Photo of President Barack Obama by Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com.
President Obama on Tuesday commuted the sentences of 111 federal inmates, setting a record for the most number of commutations in a single month.
Obama had granted commutations to 214 federal inmates earlier this month, bringing the month’s total to 325, according to a post at the White House blog by White House counsel Neil Eggleston. NPR and USA Today have stories. Throughout his presidency, Obama has granted 673 commutations.
Among those whose sentences were commuted were 35 individuals who had received life sentences. Most of those who will be released early as a result of the commutations are nonviolent drug offenders who would have received lesser sentences under today’s sentencing laws. Sixteen of the commutations were for firearms offenses.
USA Today says the commutations are coming at a “breakneck pace” as the White House works through a backlog of 11,477 cases that were pending as of Aug. 11. The story says Obama also “quietly denied” 2,227 commutation requests on Aug. 8, USA Today reports.
Clemency Project 2014, a working group that includes the American Bar Association, had supported 72 of the clemency applications. Project manager Cynthia Roseberry applauded Obama’s commitment toward supporting commutations. “We are looking forward to many more grants during the remaining months of President Obama’s term in office,” she said in a press release.
