President Obama, on Tuesday, commuted the sentences of 111 federal prisoners serving time largely for nonviolent drug offenses. The executive action granted the most commutations by an American president in a single day, according to the White House, and raised Obama’s August commutation total to 325, the highest number in any month in American history. Obama has now granted clemency to 673 inmates during his administration, which, according to the White House, is more than the past 10 American presidents combined.
Obama, who last year* became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, has pushed to reform the criminal justice system with a particular focus on drug-related crimes and mandatory sentencing laws that have helped spur mass incarceration in the U.S. One example of the type of prisoner Obama granted clemency is Tim Tyler, who was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence in 1994 for selling LSD while following the Grateful Dead on tour around the country. Tyler was 25 years old at the time. He has been in jail ever since.
More than one-third of Obama’s commutations have been granted to individuals serving life sentences. White House Counsel Neil Eggleston said he expected Obama to continue to grant commutations until the end of his presidency. The Office of the Pardon Attorney has received thousands of requests for clemency and has struggled to keep up with its commitment to commuting the sentences of nonviolent prisoners that meet specific criteria. Some experts say the number could rise to more than 1,500 commutations by January 2017. “At our current pace, we are confident that we will be able to review and make a recommendation to the president on every single drug petition we currently have,” Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates told NPR.
*Correction, Aug. 30, 2016: This post originally misstated when President Obama became the first president to visit a federal prison. Obama visited El Reno Federal Correction Institution in Oklahoma in July 2015, not last month.
