Musician John Legend asked President Obama on Friday to free more incarcerated non-violent drug offenders.
Legend, who is known for being vocal about criminal justice reform, wrote in Rolling Stone to ask Obama “to use his clemency and pardoning powers to bring justice to the thousands of families of non-violent drug offenders who have waited far too long for Congress to act.”
“I urge you to consider issuing categorical commutations to bring an end to the injustice that remains in our federal sentencing schemes,” Legend wrote. “For example, approximately 5,000 individuals are serving sentences based on prejudiced laws which punished drug crimes involving crack cocaine more severely than crimes involving powder cocaine. Rectifying these crack-powder disparities would not only correct the mistakes of the past, but could save taxpayers just over $150 million per year and keep with public sentiment about the over-incarceration and criminalization of drug crimes.”
Legend joins a handful of other criminal justice reform advocates who are urging Obama to grant as many clemencies as possible before he leaves office next month.
President-elect Donald Trump has not yet said how he will address the prisoners who have petitioned Obama for clemency. Obama has commuted the sentences of 1,023 federal prisoners, including 342 individuals who were serving life sentences. He has granted more commutations than the past 11 presidents combined.
