It’s not unusual for presidents to use their power to commute or suspend jail sentences for some people before leaving office. Obama just did that for 95 drug offenders.
The Washington Post reported:
President Obama commutes sentences of 95 federal drug offenders
President Obama commuted the sentences of 95 drug offenders Friday, more than double the number he granted this summer, in an effort to give relief to drug offenders who were harshly sentenced in the nation’s war on drugs.
It is the third time this year that the president has used his unique clemency power to release federal drug offenders, whose harsh sentences have contributed to the phenomenon of mass incarceration.
The commutations are a centerpiece of the president’s effort to make the most significant changes in the nation’s criminal justice system in decades. He and former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. have spoken passionately about the need to fix what they say is a broken system — one they argue has subjected too many nonviolent inmates to decades behind bars, disproportionately hurting minority communities.
“I commuted the sentences of 95 men and women who had served their debt to society, another step forward in upholding our ideals of justice and fairness,” Obama said.
This is the same man who jailed a YouTube user to cover up his lies on Benghazi.
