Skip to main content

Congressman Cohen Commends President Obama for Commuting 95 Sentences of Individuals Serving Unjustly Long Sentences

December 18, 2015

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, today commended President Obama’s commutation of the sentences of 95 individuals serving lengthy federal prison sentences for non-violent crimes. Under current federal law, many of these prisoners would have already completed their sentences and been freed. Their continued incarceration costs taxpayers an estimated $30,000 per year, per prisoner.

"These commutations for non-violent drug convictions are an encouraging development and a significant step by the President toward a more rational and just clemency system for Americans who are incarcerated—something I have long encouraged,” said Congressman Cohen. “But there still remain thousands of Americans languishing in prisons serving sentences that have been repudiated by both Congress and the President. I hope the President continues his efforts to commute unjust sentences during his remaining time in office.”

For years, Congressman Cohen has repeatedly called on the President to make broader use of his pardon and commutation powers to address these injustices, including repeatedly urging then-Attorney General Holder to address the issue, in a letter sent to the President in June 2013, in an August 2013 speech on Capitol Hill and in an August 2013 column that appeared in The Nation, and a November 2014 column that appeared in The Hill.

The Fair Sentencing Act, which was passed by Congress with Congressman Cohen’s co-sponsorship and signed into law by the President in 2010, marked a turning point in our nation’s approach to drug policy and was a crucial step toward eliminating the dramatic and unfair disparity between crack and powder cocaine mandatory minimum sentences. But, as the President has noted, it “came too late” for thousands of people who were sentenced before the law was passed who are still serving sentences imposed under outdated laws. The bipartisan Sentencing Reform Act of 2015, which passed the House Judiciary Committee in November, would in part make the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive. Congressman Cohen is a cosponsor of this bill.

Congressman Cohen continued: “I am encouraged by the recent bipartisan effort to reform our nation’s criminal justice laws, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to put an end to the practice of racially biased and unjust sentences. In the meantime, I am pleased that President Obama is using his constitutional powers to help bring these inmates the justice they deserve and to save taxpayer money.”