Updated December 12, 2024 at 12:17 PM ET
President Biden on Thursday announced he is commuting the prison sentences for nearly 1,500 people and pardoning 39 others in what the White House said was the largest act of clemency in a single day in modern presidential history.
The 1,500 people had been serving long prison sentences that would have been shorter under today's laws and practices. They had been on home confinement since the COVID pandemic and Biden said they had successfully reintegrated into their communities.
The White House released brief biographies of the 39 pardoned individuals. Most committed non-violent drug offenses in their late teens and early 20s. Many served in the U.S. military and all are active in their communities, either through church or volunteer work — including helping others with addiction recovery and navigating life after incarceration.
For example, Terence Anthony Jackson of Seattle was noted for volunteering as a barber for children in need. He works in the legal industry and is pursuing a degree, the White House said.
Michael Gary Pelletier of Augusta, Maine volunteered for his county hazmat team and grew vegetables for a local soup kitchen. Emily Good Nelson, of Indianapolis, has spoken publicly about drug use and volunteered as a counselor at a psychiatric facility, according to the White House.
It has become a recent traditional for presidents to exercise their pardon power with a flurry of pardons and commutations at the end of their time in office. Democratic lawmakers and advocates are lobbying Biden to commute the sentences of the 40 people on federal death row and use his clemency power to begin to address sentencing disparities and mass incarceration.
Biden said he plans to take more steps in his remaining weeks in the White House.
"My administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances," Biden said.
Biden is still getting criticized for his decision earlier this month to issue a blanket pardon to his son Hunter Biden, who had been convicted on gun and tax charges. It was a personal decision the White House says, made outside of the established process for determining presidential pardons and commutations.
Even before Thursday's announcement, Biden had issued more commutations than any other recent president by this point in their first term, the White House said.
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