President Obama commuted the sentences of 95 federal prisoners, including one person from Georgia who was convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon, and granted two pardons, the White House announced Friday.
Obama has now granted 184 commutations total — more than the last five presidents combined — as part of his push for criminal justice reform as his second term comes to an end. The commutations are the most that Obama has issued at one time.
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“I believe in your ability to prove the doubters wrong, and change your life for the better,” the president wrote in a personal letter to the 95 prisoners, almost all of whom were convicted of drug-related crimes.
“There’s still a lot of work to do,” Obama said at his final press conference of the year Friday, citing working with Congress on criminal justice reform — as well as job growth and national security — as one of the top things on his to-do list in 2016.
The sentences commuted today are just “another step forward” in upholding ideals of justice and fairness, he said.
