Obama Commutes Sentences Of 61 Prisoners: Pardon Attorney Resigns
President Obama shortened the sentences of 61 drug offenders in today as part of his push to end harsh sentences for non-violent drug offenders. Obama has thus far used his presidential authority to commute or pardon quite a few prisoners, and as the end of his final term draws near, the president intends to use his authority to call for changes to sentencing laws – particularly those that impose harsh minimum sentences on otherwise non-violent drug offenders, like the 61 whose sentences he commuted today.
“Throughout the remainder of his time in office, [President Obama] is committed to continuing to issue more grants of clemency as well as to strengthening rehabilitation programs,” wrote White House Counsel Neil Eggleston in a blog post today.
The White House announced today in a blog post that President Obama will be meeting with some of the prisoners whose sentences he commuted, and it’s important to note that commutation is not the same as a presidential pardon. President Obama’s order today only declares that the 61 prisoners in question have served enough time and can be released, and the drug convictions will remain on their record, reports ABC News.
JUST IN: President Barack Obama will commute the sentences of 61 inmates convicted of drug offenses. https://t.co/HjdVuGyiYS
— KGUN 9 On Your Side (@kgun9) March 30, 2016
“Pardons embody the basic belief in our democracy that people deserve a second chance after having made a mistake in their lives that led to a conviction under our laws,” reads a letter by President Obama sent out to each of the prisoners whose sentences were commuted today.
In the last couple years of his final term in office, President Obama has commuted the sentences of 248 individuals, USA Today reports. A part of President Obama’s push to end harsh minimum sentencing laws, which can impose decades of imprisonment for what would otherwise be minor infractions, particularly for non-violent drug offenses.
“Despite the progress we have made, it is important to remember that clemency is nearly always a tool of last resort that can help specific individuals but does nothing to make our criminal justice system on the whole more fair and just,” remarked White House Counsel Neil Eggleston today, writing of President Obama’s recent commutations.
The effort comes just after President Obama delivered an important speech on the subject of opioid addiction in the United States, which he referred to as an epidemic and a problem that should be addressed by the healthcare system, not the prison system. The Inquisitr reported previously on President Obama’s push to end the opioid epidemic in the United States.
BREAKING: Obama commutes sentences of 61 ppl sent to prison for far too long in failed War On Drugs https://t.co/dIrZKTuHwd
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 30, 2016
President Obama has broad support for his clemency initiative within the Democratic Congress and Senate, but the presidential pardon system, as well as Obama’s pardons and commutations, are not without controversy. Just this week, U.S. Pardon Attorney for the White House Deborah Leff resigned from her post over frustrations that President Obama was more interested in commuting the offenses of low-level drug offenders often at the expense of prisoners who have petitioned for full pardons.
“The requests of thousands of petitioners seeking justice will lie unheard,” commented Pardon Attorney Deborah Leff in her resignation letter this week.
The Obama administration’s clemency initiative cuts through the complicated red tape involved in the presidential pardon system, but according to Pardon Attorney Deborah Leff, it’s not enough. As a Pardon Attorney for the Obama Administration, it fell to Leff and her office to thoroughly investigate each and every request for a presidential pardon to make sure they meet a set of specific requirements, which Leff claims her office simply didn’t have the resources to do.
In her resignation letter to President Obama, Pardon Attorney Deborah Leff cited that she was routinely denied access to the Office of the White House Counsel, who would forward her recommendations on to the president, effectively stifling the Pardon Office.
[Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images]
