Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jul 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Nancy Benac, The Associated Press

OBAMA CUTS SENTENCES FOR 46 DRUG OFFENDERS

President Pushes for Changes to Make Justice System Fairer

Washington (AP) - Calling America "a nation of second chances," 
President Barack Obama cut the prison sentences of 46 nonviolent drug 
offenders Monday in what the White House hopes will be just one prong 
of a broader push to make the criminal justice system fairer while 
saving the government money.

Fourteen of those whose sentences were commuted had been sent to 
prison for life and the vast majority for at least 20 years, the 
president said in a video released by the White House, adding that 
"their punishments didn't fit the crime."

"These men and women were not hardened criminals," he said, promising 
to lay out more ideas on criminal justice changes during a speech to 
the NAACP on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Since Congress enacted mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes in 
the 1980s, the federal prison population has grown from 24,000 to 
more than 214,000, according to Families Against Mandatory Minimums, 
a group seeking sentencing changes.

And the costs, said Obama, are more than $80 billion a year to 
incarcerate people who often "have only been engaged in nonviolent 
drug offenses."

While Obama has spoken off and on during his presidency about the 
need for smarter sentencing and other justice reforms, prospects for 
significant structural change have improved recently with growing 
interest among Republicans in Congress.

"Congress simply can't act fast enough," said Julie Stewart, 
president and founder of Families Against Mandatory Minimums. She 
said that while Obama's executive actions have picked off some of the 
most egregious sentencing inequities, significant legislative action 
is needed to stop the flow of people "going to prison year in and 
year out, serving too much time."

Republican support in any such effort is critical, Stewart said, 
likening it to a Nixon-goes-to-China moment.

"Nobody's going to question a Republican's credibility on being tough 
on crime," she said.

Obama has issued 89 commutations during his presidency, most of them 
to nonviolent offenders sentenced for drug crimes under now-outdated 
sentencing guidelines. A commutation leaves the conviction in place 
but reduces the punishment. The sentences of those who received 
commutations Monday will expire Nov. 10, 2015.

Obama wrote a personal letter to each of those whose sentence was commuted.

In a letter to Jerry Bailey, sentenced to 30 years for conspiracy to 
violate laws against crack-cocaine, Obama praised Bailey for showing 
the potential to turn his life around.

"Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity," Obama wrote.

Obama announced the commutations in a video produced and posted 
online by the White House, preventing journalists from being able to 
question him about the move.

The 46 sentence reductions are the most presidential commutations in 
a single day since at least the administration of President Lyndon 
Johnson, according to the White House. Overall, Obama has surpassed 
the combined number of commutations granted by Presidents Ronald 
Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

They represent a sliver of all those seeking clemency: Justice 
Department statistics show that roughly 2,100 commutation petitions 
have been received this fiscal year, and about 7,900 are pending.

White House counsel Neil Eggleston predicted the president would 
issue more commutations before leaving office but added that 
"clemency alone will not fix decades of overly punitive sentencing policies."

Obama is to become the first sitting president to visit a federal 
prison when he goes to the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution 
outside of Oklahoma City on Thursday.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom