Obama Commutes 214 More Sentences

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Wed Aug 03, 2016 at 03:15:13 PM EST
Tags: clemency (all tags)

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President Obama today commuted 214 more federal sentences, bringing his total to 564, more than the previous 9 presidents combined.

67 of today's commutations went to those serving life sentences with no chance of release. To date, he has commuted 197 life sentences. (Some were commuted to 30 years, not time served.)

The numbers:

2.2 million Americans are incarcerated at a cost to taxpayers of $80 billion a year
50% of federal inmates are serving sentences for drugs

More than 12,000 clemency and pardon requests were still pending in June. Since 2009, more than 23,000 requests for clemency were received. Half of them were denied or closed without presidential action.

Obama has only 7 months to get through the remaining 12,000 petitions.

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