US President Barack Obama has commuted
the prison sentences of 46 drug offenders as part of a renewed effort to reform
the criminal justice system.
In a video announcement,
he said the prisoners were not "hardened criminals" and had been
given sentences that "didn't fit their crimes".
He said it was part of a wider effort to restore the sense of
fairness in a "nation of second chances".
Mr Obama is due to unveil plans for criminal justice reforms on
Tuesday.
The 46 prisoners, 14 of whom were serving life sentences, are
scheduled to be released on 10 November.
Most of them were jailed for crack cocaine offences, which once
carried a sentence equivalent to someone caught with 100 times the same amount
of powder cocaine.
"These men and women were not hardened criminals. But the
overwhelming majority had to be sentenced to at least 20 years," Mr Obama
said.
"But I believe that at its heart, America's a nation of
second chances. And I believe these folks deserve their second chance."
'Prove doubters wrong'
In a letter to one of the prisoners, Mr
Obama said he was granting the applications because "you have demonstrated
the potential to turn your life around".
The letter ended: "I believe in your ability to prove the
doubters wrong, and change your life for the better. So good luck, and
Godspeed."
Mr Obama has now commuted the sentences of 89 prisoners, with
most being non-violent drug offenders who applied for clemency under an
initiative that began in April 2014.
A commutation leaves the conviction in place, but ends the
punishment.
Some of those to be freed
§
Larry Darnell Belcher (Martinsville, Virginia) - Found guilty of
intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute
marijuana. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1997.
§
John L Houston Brower (Carthage, North Carolina) - Found guilty
of distributing crack cocaine. Sentenced to life imprisonment in
2002.
§
Anthony Leon Carroll (Tampa, Florida) - Found guilty of
possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. Sentenced to 21
years in prison in 1999.
§
Steven D Donovan (Oak Creek, Wisconsin)- Found guilty of
conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; interstate travel to
promote distribution of cocaine; possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992.
In a statement, White House counsel Neil
Eggleston said Mr Obama is likely to issue more commutations before leaving
office in 2017.
But he added that "clemency alone will not fix decades of
overly punitive sentencing policies".
President Obama is due to lay out his plans for criminal justice
reform in a speech to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
On Thursday, he is expected 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.
This week's focus on criminal justice signals a renewed bid by
Mr Obama's administration to tackle what he sees as a lack of fairness in the
system.
The last significant changes came in 2013 when US Attorney
General Eric Holder dropped mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug
offenders.
§
Some 208,000 people are behind bars in the US
§
Nearly 50% of them are there for drug offences
§
About 37% of prisoners are black, while 34% are Hispanic
§
The cost of incarceration in the US was $80bn (£50bn) in 2010
Source: Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons
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