USA - President Barack Obama issued 42 commutations, adding to 348, a historic total.

President Barack Obama issued 42 commutations, adding to a historic total. All told, Obama has now issued 348 commutations — more than the amount issued by the past seven presidents combined — though advocates have encouraged him to be even bolder. In addition to using the power of commutation more freely than past presidents, Obama has also focused his efforts on a certain subset of federal prisoner: people with drug offenses who face disproportionately long sentences. Among the 42 people who received commutations on Friday, nearly half (20) were serving life sentences. Of his 348 career commutations, 130 were in prison for life. In a blog post on Friday, White House lead counsel Neil Eggleston said the president “remains committed to using his clemency power throughout the remainder of the Administration to give more deserving individuals that same second chance.” But he added that legislation from Congress would be needed to “bring about lasting change to the federal system.” “There remain thousands of men and women in federal prison serving sentences longer than necessary, often due to overly harsh mandatory minimum sentences,” Eggleston said. Former Attorney General Eric Holder told The Washington Post he initially believed as many as 10,000 federal prisoners could be released under the initiative. The number of prisoners who meet the criteria is now believed to be between 1,000 and 2,000. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said Friday that she was “confident that there will be many more commutations in the months to come.” Some say the Obama administration’s commutations pale in comparison to the approximately 14,000 granted in a single year by former President Gerald Ford. He commuted the sentences of anyone who had deserted or dodged the draft during the Vietnam War. When comparing Obama’s commutations to presidents of the past, the White House doesn’t mention those from Ford because they applied to an entire category of individuals. Many of the people who did receive commutations on Friday will be getting out of prison in October, although some are set to be released next year or in 2018. Nearly all had been sentenced for drug offenses, with the vast majority convicted for the distribution of crack cocaine.