Pubdate: Thu, 31 Mar 2016
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2016 The New York Times Company
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Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Michael D. Shear

OBAMA COMMUTES SENTENCES FOR 61 DRUG OFFENDERS

WASHINGTON - Ismael Rosa, a salsa singer serving a lifetime prison 
sentence for drug crimes, had often promised his lawyers that he 
would sing for them if he ever won his freedom.

On Wednesday, Mr. Rosa was brought to the warden's office at the 
Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, Ill., and was told that 
President Obama had granted him clemency. On the phone with his 
lawyer, the lyrics from a gospel hymn finally slipped past his lips 
as tears streamed down his face.

"I'm free and I'm unbound and there are no shackles on me now," he 
sang softly, according to MiAngel Cody, one of his lawyers, who 
called the moment "beautiful." Mr. Rosa, 56, who has served 21 years 
and plans to live with his brother, a sheriff's deputy in Chicago, 
when he is released early next year, passed on a message to Mr. Obama.

" 'Please tell Mr. President that I will always represent him and I 
will not let him down,' " Ms. Cody said.

Mr. Rosa's conviction in 1995 on conspiracy to distribute multiple 
kilograms of cocaine sent him to prison for life. On Wednesday, he 
was among 61 federal prisoners, incarcerated for drug offenses, whose 
sentences Mr. Obama commuted, extending his administration's efforts 
to reshape a criminal justice sentencing system the president has 
often described as unduly harsh, unfair to minorities and badly outdated.

Like Mr. Rosa, more than a third of the prisoners who will soon be 
released were serving life in prison as a result of federal 
sentencing laws that imposed severe punishments for the distribution 
of cocaine and other drugs. Mr. Obama has now commuted the sentences 
of 248 prisoners, more than the total commuted by the last six 
presidents combined, administration officials said.

"Most of them are low-level drug offenders whose sentences would have 
been shorter if they were convicted under today's laws," Mr. Obama 
said Wednesday on his Facebook page. "I believe America is a nation 
of second chances, and with hard work, responsibility, and better 
choices, people can change their lives and contribute to our society."

Ms. Cody commended Mr. Obama for his efforts on behalf of people like 
Mr. Rosa. She said that someone newly convicted of crimes like his 
would no longer receive life in prison, but added that broader 
changes to sentencing laws were still needed.

"We are seeing, hopefully, some withdrawal from our own justice 
system's addiction to incarceration," Ms. Cody said. "Some of this 
will happen with clemency, but some of it needs to happen with true 
legislative sentencing reform."

For years, Mr. Obama has been pressing for just that, hoping to 
reverse steep penalties put in place in recent decades that sent many 
African-American and Hispanic men to prison for mostly nonviolent 
offenses. The president has said he is hopeful that he can reach rare 
agreement with Republicans on broad changes to sentencing laws.

Mr. Obama has said he is encouraged by expressions of support for a 
criminal justice overhaul by conservative lawmakers and groups. 
Several Republicans who ran for president this election cycle have 
said sentencing laws need to be revamped. Liberal groups like the 
Center for American Progress have teamed up with Koch Industries, the 
conglomerate owned by the conservative brothers Charles G. and David 
H. Koch, to try to shrink prison populations.

In brief comments on Wednesday, Mr. Obama singled out House Speaker 
Paul D. Ryan for his support on the issue and said he was "still 
hopeful that criminal justice reform can get done."

But even as Mr. Obama seeks to work with Congress, he has tried to 
use the power of his office to address the thousands of mostly young 
men who were imprisoned under the stricter laws established during 
the "war on drugs" of the 1990s.

White House officials said the new grants of clemency underscored Mr. 
Obama's commitment to redress. In a blog post, Neil Eggleston, the 
president's chief lawyer, said Mr. Obama would remain "committed to 
continuing to issue more grants of clemency as well as to 
strengthening rehabilitation programs" throughout the rest of his presidency.

Marjorie J. Peerce, a partner in New York with the law firm Ballard 
Spahr, praised Mr. Obama for commuting the sentences of people like 
Kevin County, a low-level drug offender convicted of distributing 
small amounts of heroin and crack cocaine. Because Mr. County had a 
prior felony, the federal judge was required to impose a 20-year 
sentence, more than four times what would probably be given today.

After serving 14 years, Mr. County is set to leave the Federal 
Correctional Institution in Yazoo City, Miss., on July 28, 2016.

"The war on drugs from the 1990s resulted in inordinately harsh and 
long prison sentences for offenders who did not deserve to serve that 
length of time," Ms. Peerce said.

Some advocates for those in prison say Mr. Obama's efforts, while 
laudable, fall far short of what is needed. They note that his public 
commitment to using his clemency power more frequently has encouraged 
more than 30,000 federal inmates to come forward seeking shorter 
prison sentences. Many of those will not qualify because they 
committed violent crimes or have not been in prison long enough. But 
Ms. Peerce said there were "hundreds, if not thousands more that meet 
the criteria."

At his current pace, Mr. Obama will free a small fraction of those 
prisoners by the time his term ends next year. Officials said that 
was in part because of a lengthy review process that the 
administration had set up to consider clemency applications.

"We are deeply gratified that the president has used the power of the 
Oval Office to give relief to people serving unjust sentences for 
low-level, nonviolent crimes," said Julie Stewart, the president of 
Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a group advocating changes in 
sentencing. "Unfortunately, clemency can't change policy. Congress 
should be eliminating mandatory minimum sentences so that thousands 
more don't serve excessive sentences that don't make Americans safer."

White House officials said Wednesday that the president also wanted 
to help those released from prison become more effective members of 
society. On Thursday, the White House will host a discussion with 
advocates and administration officials about how to help those 
receiving clemency return to productive lives.

After the announcement of the new commutations, Mr. Obama met with 
several federal prisoners whose sentences had previously been 
commuted to discuss how effectively they had re-entered society. In a 
video posted on Facebook with his statement, Mr. Obama invited the 
group to lunch to discuss the issue.

Mr. Obama's motorcade arrived just after noon at Busboys and Poets, a 
restaurant and bookstore where the president and the former prisoners 
talked over lunch. Afterward, Mr. Obama noted that several of the 
former prisoners had become successful members of their communities.

"You've got folks around this table who are now attorneys," Mr. Obama 
said. "They're raising children, getting married."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom