XPost: alt.sodomites.barack-obama, alt.politics.democrat, talk.politics.misc XPost: dc.politics

President Obama commuted the sentences of 95 drug offenders
Friday, more than double the number of commutations he granted
earlier this year in July, in an effort to reduce prison
crowding and 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. Obama granted clemency to 22 drug offenders in
March and another 46 in July.

The United States has less than five percent of the world’s
population, but nearly a quarter of the world’s prison
population. One in 100 adults is behind bars in America,
according to the Coalition for Public Safety, a bipartisan
criminal justice reform organization.

A White House spokeswoman said that Obama has surpassed the
number of 88 commutations granted by the previous four
presidents, Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton,
and George W. Bush combined.

All inmates given clemency by Obama are first sent to lower-
security prisons and then halfway houses to help begin their
transition before they are released from the custody of the
Bureau of Prisons. After that approximately four-month process,
the inmates are released and transferred to the custody of the
U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services system.

One of the inmates granted clemency was Sharanda Jones, a 48-
year-old Texas woman who was sentenced to life in prison without
parole for a single cocaine offense. She was a first-time,
nonviolent offender.

The Washington Post highlighted “Jones’ case in July as an
example of the tens of thousands of inmates in federal prison
who received severe mandatory minimum sentences for drug
offenses during the crack-cocaine epidemic. Jones has spent the
last 16 years behind bars, leaving an 8-year-old daughter to
grow up without her mother.

“The president literally saved her life today,” said Brittany
Bryd, the attorney who filed Jones’ clemency petition.

Some of the commutations granted by Obama were prepared by pro-
bono lawyers across the country working with Clemency Project
2014, an organization that was formed after the Justice
Department set out criteria in a new initiative in the spring of
2014 that would make certain federal drug defendants eligible
for clemency.

The latest round of clemencies come as lawmakers in Congress are
debating several bipartisan bills to change sentencing laws.

Comments:

Lord Chasm
12:12 PM PST
It's like a Christmas movie, but with drug dealers. "Miracle on
14th Street."
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YankeesFan
12:12 PM PST
Ah, more "non-violent" drug offenders turned loose?
The drug business is a very violent place and Federal prisoners
are felons by defintion.
Most - if not all - of these scumbags plea bargained down more
serious (usually involving violence) offenses to lesser charges
to avoid a jury.
This is par for this pinhead in the White Hooue.
When he's not pardoning drug offenders, he's doing his best to
admit third world aliens including gang bangers and terrorists.
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U S Sen EDDIE InLiberty hamilton in 2016 Nevada
12:09 PM PST
Thank Joe Biden for this tough Omnibus Crime Incarceration Bill
of the 1990's !

Just curious, how many of these criminals will hide and be
protected in the Democrat controlled sanctuary cities, such as
LA, SF, NYC ?

We need #DonaldTrumpFor President2016 !!

Trump, Trump, Trump ....
LikeReplyShare

thatswhatshesaid
12:11 PM PST
Were you trying to sound mentally retarded or is it more of a
naturally occurring thing?
LikeReply
U S Sen EDDIE InLiberty hamilton in 2016 Nevada

12:09 PM PST
Thank Joe Biden for this tough Omnibus Crime Incarceration Bill
of the 1990's !

Just curious, how many of these criminals will hide and be
protected in the Democrat controlled sanctuary cities, such as
LA, SF, NYC ?

We need #DonaldTrumpFor President2016 !!

Trump, Trump, Trump ....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/president- obama-commutes-sentences-of-about-100-drug- offenders/2015/12/18/9b62c91c-a5a3-11e5-9c4e-
be37f66848bb_story.html

"After high school, I started hanging out and, blinded by
society and worldly idols, I started trafficking in drugs as an
easy way to help my mom pay bills and get the extra things I
wanted. I never intentionally or knowingly meant to harm anyone
– like a lot of people, I was ignorant of the harm drugs can
inflict on users, their families and our communities."

-By Sharanda Jones

http://clemencyreport.org/sharanda-jones-go-home-now/
 

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