Obama commutes 330 drug terms on last day
1,715 total more than any other president in nation’s history.
WASHINGTON — I n a l a s t major ac t in office, President Barack Obama cut short the sentences of 330 federal inmates convicted of drug crimes Thursday, bringing his bid to correct what he’s called a systematic injustice to a climactic close.
With his final offer of clemency, Obama brought his total number of commutations granted to 1,715, more than any other president in U.S. history, the White House said. During his presidency Obama ordered free 568 inmates who had been sentenced to life in prison.
“He wanted to do it. He wanted the opportunity to look at as many as he could t o p r o v i d e r e l i e f , ” N e i l Eggleston, Obama’s White House counsel, said in an interview in his West Wing office. “He saw the injustice of the sentences that were imposed in many situations, and he has a strong view that people deserve a second chance.”
For Obama, it was the last time he planned to exercise his presidential powers in any significant way. At noon today, Obama will stand with President-elect Donald Trump as his successor is sworn in and Obama’s chapter in history comes to an end.
The final batch of commutations — more in a single day than on any other day in U. S. hi stor y — was the culmination of Obama’s second-term effort to try to remedy the consequences of decades of onerous sentencing requirements that he said had imprisoned thou- sands of drug offenders for too long. Obama repeatedly called on Congress to pass a broader criminal justice fix, but lawmakers never acted.
For Bernard Smith, it’s a long-awaited chance to start over after 13 years away from his wife and children.
Smith was working at a restaurant in Maryland in 2002 when his brother asked him to obtain marijuana for a drug deal. Though it was his brother who obtained the crack cocaine that the brothers then sold along with the marijuana to undercover officers, Smith was charged with the cocaine offense, too.
His 22-year sentence was far longer than his brother’s, owing to what the court called Smith’s “extensive criminal history” prior to the drug bust. Smith still had 10 years on his sentence when he was notified Thursday that the president, on his last day in office, was giving him another chance.
“He’s looking to turn his life around,” said Michelle Curth, his attorney.
Curth said that Smith had learned his lesson and owned up to his crime — he asked for a commutation, she noted, not a pardon, which would have erased the original conviction. She said Smith hopes to get licensed in heating and air conditioning maintenance and has lined up family members to help with his adjustment.
Rather than release him, Obama directed that Smith be set free in January 2019 — two years after Obama has left office — and only if Smith enrolls in a residential drug treatment program.
To be eligible for a commutation under Obama’s initiative, inmates had to have behaved well in prison and already served 10 years, although some exceptions t o t he 1 0 -ye a r r ul e were granted. They also had to be considered nonviolent offenders, although many were charged with firearms violations in relation to their drug crimes.