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.
Federal prisons in numbers
Some 208,000 people are behind bars in
federal prisons 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