President Obama plans on June 3 to commute the sentences of 42 federal prisoners, 20 of whom have life sentences, according to The Huffington Post.
Obama has used his commutation power much more often than past presidents — his 348 commutations so far surpass the total issued by the past seven combined.
According to The Huffington Post:
In addition to using the power of commutation more freely than past presidents, Obama has also focused his efforts on a certain subset of federal prisoner: people with drug offenses who face disproportionately long sentences. Among the 42 people who received commutations on Friday, nearly half (20) were serving life sentences. Of his 348 career commutations, 130 were in prison for life.
… Even without such legislation, some had expected Obama to have done even more by this point in his presidency. When former Pardon Attorney Deborah Leff stepped down earlier this year, she wrote in her resignation letter that the Justice Department had not dedicated adequate resources to the clemency initiative. An official with the Clemency Project 2014, which brings together lawyers to prioritize cases involving federal prisoners eligible for clemency, said in March that the organization hoped the Obama administration “will make the exercise of its clemency power ever more robust.” And Charles Koch, a billionaire Republican donor who has backed criminal justice reform, has pushed the Obama administration to speed up the clemency process.
… Many of those who did receive commutations on Friday will be getting out of prison in October, though some are set to be released next year or in 2018. Nearly all had been sentenced for drug offenses, with the vast majority convicted for the distribution of crack cocaine.
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