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Obama shortens sentences of 111 federal inmates, including three from Tampa
Posted On Aug 30 2016
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Eggleston said Obama considered the individual merits of each application to determine that an applicant is ready to make use of their second chance. Yates tells NPR they’re certain they’ll be able to examine the back log of applicants before Obama leaves office in January 2017.
The White House said Tuesday that more than one-third of Obama’s clemency recipients had been serving life sentences. Sentence Undone: A Life Lost to Drugs A Second Chance for Shauna Barry-Scott According to the White House, Obama has cut the federal sentences of more men and woman than the last 10 presidents combined, and the most since President Calvin Coolidge.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday shortened the sentences of 111 federal inmates, bringing the total of clemency grants this month to 325. He looks through their record, takes into account their behavior behind bars and tries his best to examine whether or not they truly deserve a second chance.
But Obama’s commutation set his release date for December 28 this year. Most of those who will be released early as a result of the commutations are nonviolent drug offenders who would have received lesser sentences under today’s sentencing laws.
The White House said additional commutations are expected before the end of Obama’s term. Thomas’ sentence will now expire August 30, 2018, on the condition that he enrolls in a residential drug treatment program.
Emmanuel Obi Maduka of Detroit was sentenced in the Southern District of NY in 2008 to 20 years in prison and 10 years of probation for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and conspiracy to import heroin.
Despite these efforts, Eggleston said, there is still a need for Congress to pass reforms that “address excessive mandatory minimum sentences”.
“Only the passage of legislation can achieve the broader reforms needed to ensure our federal sentencing system operates more fairly and effectively in the service of public safety”.
