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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
August 30, 2016, 03:54 pm
Obama commutes sentences for 111 inmates
By Harper Neidig
270
Getty
President Obama on Tuesday commuted the sentences of 111 inmates, bringing the total for the month of August to 325.
The latest round of commutations is part of Obama’s efforts to help those who have been hit with lengthy prison sentences in the government’s decades-long war on drugs. It comes weeks after he handed out 214 commutations in what the administration said was the largest amount in a single day since at least 1900.
“We must remember that these are individuals — sons, daughters, parents, and in many cases, grandparents — who have taken steps toward rehabilitation and who have earned their second chance,” White House counsel Neil Eggleston wrote in a blog post.
“They are individuals who received unduly harsh sentences under outdated laws for committing largely nonviolent drug crimes, for example, the 35 individuals whose life sentences were commuted today,” he continued. “For each of these applicants, the President considers the individual merits of each application to determine that an applicant is ready to make use of his or her second chance."
Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates lauded the move in a statement Tuesday, predicting that the president would grant more commutations in his final months in office.
“The clemency initiative is about more than the 111 people who learned today that their sentences have been commuted; it’s also about the families and communities who will welcome them home as they work to build a new life,” she said.
“With today’s announcement, the President has given a second chance to over 300 individuals in the month of August and we expect many more men and women will receive that same opportunity in the months to come.”
Yates also called on Congress to pass legislation to bring about prison-sentencing reform before the end of the year.
According to the White House, Obama has granted a total of 673 commutations, which they say is more than the previous 10 presidents combined. The 325 that he has granted in August alone is more than any president has given in a single year.
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,” he said.
Obama commutes sentences for 111 inmates
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Start by prosecuting cops that willingly break the law then we can salute you until then... 
