Obama commutes sentences for 58 federal prisoners

[Hand]

WASHINGTON — More than a decade ago, a judge bemoaned that the life sentence she was about to impose on Charles C. Brown was overly harsh. This week, relief finally came to Brown, along with 57 other offenders.

President Barack Obama on Thursday commuted their prison terms as part of a broader push to revamp the criminal justice system and ease punishments for nonviolent drug convicts.

Eighteen of the 58 had been given life sentences and some have already spent more than decades in prison. Most are now due for release on Sept. 2. Others will be released over the next two years.

The latest wave — among them defendants convicted of either possessing or dealing cocaine, crack and methamphetamine — brings to 306 the number of inmates whose sentences Obama has commuted, the vast majority for drug crimes. The administration has said the pace of commutations is expected to increase as the end of Obama’s presidency nears.

The prisoners given commutations have been “granted a second chance to lead productive and law-abiding lives,” said Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates.

“Our clemency work is continuing as part of our broader efforts to effectuate criminal justice reform and ensure fairness and proportionality in sentencing,” Yates said.

Brown, a Rhode Island man, was sentenced in 2004 to life in prison on crack cocaine charges. The judge in the case, Mary Lisi, lamented during the sentencing hearing that federal law left her with “no choice” but to impose the life sentence because of the amount of crack involved and because of his prior convictions. She said the sentence was not what she would have imposed if it was up to her.

With Thursday’s announcement, Brown’s sentence now ends on Sept. 2.
The Obama administration has sought to reduce the prison population by encouraging shorter sentences and alternatives to prison for nonviolent criminals. It has supported legislation in Congress that would encourage judges to hand out lesser sentences more lenient than the federal mandatory minimums.

And under a 2013 initiative known as “Smart on Crime,” the Justice Department directed prosecutors to limit their use of mandatory minimum sentences, which closely tie the length of punishment to drug quantity.

In a statement Thursday accompanying the announcement, Obama said, “It just doesn’t make sense to require a nonviolent drug offender to serve 20 years, or in some cases, life, in prison.”

“An excessive punishment like that doesn’t fit the crime. It’s not serving taxpayers, and it’s not making us safer,” he added.

Continued...

[Team Sergeant]

Yeah I knew this was coming.

I'd like to see a bill go forth limiting this queenly power..... Let's say you can only pardon or commute 10 folks per year for a total of 40.

This is taking the power away from the states in my view. I can't wait for many of them to be caught again committing more crimes.....

[PedOncoDoc]

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

Yeah I knew this was coming.

I'd like to see a bill go forth limiting this queenly power..... Let's say you can only pardon or commute 10 folks per year for a total of 40.

This is taking the power away from the states in my view. I can't wait for many of them to be caught again committing more crimes.....

Does that then make Obama an accessory to those crimes?

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by PedOncoDoc

Does that then make Obama an accessory to those crimes?

He did say : "If I had a son he would be just like this thug criminal"

About the only time I've believed anything he had to say.

[Oldrotorhead]

Just wait until January 2017

This is just testing the waters.

[mark46th]

I wonder if he set up a charitable foundation in Canada to hide the money he is getting for these pardons...

https://www.propublica.org/article/o...dern-president

[Sohei]

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

I'd like to see a bill go forth limiting this queenly power..... Let's say you can only pardon or commute 10 folks per year for a total of 40.

That would be the best alternative to the unlimited powers they possess now because they will never give up that capacity...and no one will ever push the issue to have it changed.

But, then again, it would be nice to have a president one day that would say, "Nope. That isn't my job. Let them go before the pardon and parole board. That's what they are paid for."

[Pete]

Originally Posted by WCH

https://www.propublica.org/article/o...dern-president

True - Bush gave more pardons, something like 73.

But 36 of them were in the last couple months of his term.

73 - 36 = 37

Last time I looked 37 was less than 58. The Prez has a few more months to get 15 more pardons.

Your article was short on numbers but long on percents.

Which is larger? 5% of 100 or 1% of 1,000

[cbtengr]

Originally Posted by WCH

https://www.propublica.org/article/o...dern-president

That article is a bit dated, Nov 2012. I would say that O is making up for lost time and before it is all over no president will come close to matching his record.

Originally Posted by Pete

True - Bush gave more pardons, something like 73.

But 36 of them were in the last couple months of his term.

73 - 36 = 37

Last time I looked 37 was less than 58. The Prez has a few more months to get 15 more pardons.

Your article was short on numbers but long on percents.

Which is larger? 5% of 100 or 1% of 1,000

How about Reagan's 393?

Originally Posted by cbtengr

That article is a bit dated, Nov 2012. I would say that O is making up for lost time and before it is all over no president will come close to matching his record.

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/Justi...-President.htm

[cbtengr]

Originally Posted by WCH

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/Justi...-President.htm

That is a better source, O has his work cut out for him if he wishes to become #1 in the pardon dept. I would not be surprised to see him make the top 5.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

Don't worry folks. I worked with these shit bags that are getting out. They will soon be back in prison or dead. It will work it's self out.

At what cost?

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

I agree the cost is to high. A 22 bullet is a better option, but at this point we are screwed.

The state of Washington went to a computerized system to calculate inmate release dates. The program was flawed, even after they found out they kept using it for a few years KNOWING it let inmates out early. There are now at least two dead people, one a 16 year old kid that, and both inmates should have been sitting in prison when the incidents occurred. This was two separate incidents and two separate shitbags screwing up. Suddenly after this hits the news DOC is recalculating manually and trying to track down parolees that were let out early to do the rest of their time.


Until something like this happens with these "non violent" offenders the pardon and clemency king will be a hero. Even then the loony left will find an excuse for the bullshit.


I worked with those animals long enough I am just hoping enough will OD or be killed to make the money even out. I also worry about their future victims.

What does this have to do with Presidential pardons