White House announces another 58 sentence commutations
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Another 58 prison sentences, a number of them life terms, have been commuted by President Barack Obama, the White House announced Thursday.
The president has now commuted a total of 306 sentences and intends to grant relief to more prisoners while he remains in office, according to Reuters and the Washington Post (reg. req.).
“It just doesn’t make sense to require a non-violent drug offender to serve 20 years, or in some cases, life, in prison,” the president said in a blog post.
“As a country, we have to make sure that those who take responsibility for their mistakes are able to transition back to their communities,” he wrote. “It’s the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do. And it’s something I will keep working to do as long as I hold this office.”
Among those who got good news was Fulton “Wash” Washington, who was given a life term without parole in a drug case and has become a self-taught artist during his 20 years behind bars. The federal judge who sentenced him said such a harsh prison term was inappropriate but lamented that he had no choice but to impose the mandatory sentence. Washington’s daughter, now 31, was a 10-year-old child when he was initially imprisoned in the case.
Jim Felman. ABA file photo by Alicia Katherine Johnson.
“I was able to tell both Wash and his daughter today that he is coming home,” attorney Jim Felman, a past co-chair of the ABA’s Criminal Justice Section, told the Post. “His daughter just broke down and started screaming and crying with hysteria. It’s just unbelievable. I’m still in tears.”
The American Bar Association has put its support behind Clemency Project 2014, part of a national effort by multiple bar groups to help inmates who meet U.S. Department of Justice criteria apply for sentence commutations. At this point, there is a backlog of more than 9,000 pending applications awaiting action at the executive branch, the Post reports.
Obama granted 61 clemency petitions in March. Clemency Project 2014 project manager Cynthia Roseberry praised this second round of clemency grants in less than six weeks.
“I want to express how pleased I am with the seemingly accelerating rate at which President Obama is commuting these sentences,” Roseberrry said in a press release. She said the project is awaiting action on 900 more petitions it has submitted.
Related coverage:
ABA Journal: “Clemency Project 2014 is out to help prisoners doing excessive time due to inflexible sentencing”
Santa Maria Times: “Lompoc inmate finding inspiration through artwork”
