President Barack Obama announced Friday that he has commuted the sentences of 95 federal prisoners and Friday, as part of a broader effort to address the criminal justice system, which has doled out overly harsh and expensive sentences to thousands of nonviolent offenders.
The commutations are the most Obama has ever done at one time and will primarily benefit nonviolent drug offenders serving long sentences for cocaine and crack crimes, who would have served lighter sentences uder current rules, according to the New York Times.
"I am granting your application because you have demonstrated the potential to turn your life around," Obama wrote to each of the prisoners, signed one at a time in the Oval Office on Thursday. "Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity."
Obama has now commuted 184 prison sentences, surpassing the combined number of those granted by his six predecessors - Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush, reported the Washington Post. He has commuted the most sentences of any president since Lyndon B. Johnson, who commuted 226 sentences during his presidency.
"The president's decision today to commute the prison terms of 95 individuals is another sign of this administration's strong commitment to ensuring fairness in the criminal justice system," Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said in a statement.
In addition to the commutations, Obama also issued two pardons, bringing that figure up to 66. The two pardoned were an Ohio man sentence to probation and a Virgina woman sentenced to home detention, according to ABC News.
Obama has made criminal justice reform a top priority during the last years of his presidency. In July, he became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison and met with six inmates. He has also called on Congress to pass sentencing reform to help reduce the number of people serving extended sentences for nonviolent drug crimes.
