Obama shortens prison sentences of 111 prisoners read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/739-obama-shortens-prison-sentences-of-111-prisoners

Obama has now granted a total of 673 judicial sentences during his presidency, more than the number granted by the 10 previous presidents combined, as he seeks to reform the criminal justice system.

U.S. President Barack Obama shortened the prison sentences of 111 convicts serving time for drug-related offenses in his second round of mercy grants this month, the White House said on Tuesday.

More than one-third of the 673 convicts had been serving life sentences.

Obama has made reducing the number of people serving long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses a priority. It is one of the rare issues where the president gets support from Republican lawmakers.

He launched the mercy program in 2014 inviting thousands of drug offenders and others to seek early release. It was the most ambitious such program in 40 years but it has struggled under a flood of thousands of unprocessed cases.

 

The White House counsel, Neil Eggleston, said he expects Obama will continue to grant commutations through the end of his presidency, which ends on Jan. 20