Obama commutes sentences of another 72 federal inmates
Photo of President Barack Obama from Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock.com.
President Obama on Friday commuted the sentences of 72 additional federal inmates.
With the latest round of commutations, Obama has commuted the sentences of 944 people, according to the White House Blog. The Hill calls the latest round of commutations the latest sign that Obama “is accelerating his clemency push during his final months in office.”
Eight days ago, Obama commuted 98 sentences. In his post at the White House Blog, White House counsel Neil Eggleston wrote, “What President Obama has done for commutations is unprecedented in the modern era.”
Obama is “demonstrating that our nation is a nation of second chances,” Eggleston wrote.
According to Clemency Project 2014, at least 51 of the commutations granted on Friday were in cases supported by the project. The Clemency Project is a national pro bono initiative that has reviewed the cases of more than 34,000 prisoners seeking commutation assistance. The project has submitted 2,150 pardon petitions on behalf of prisoners believed to have met the criteria.
