President Joe Biden has made history by granting clemency to approximately 1,500 individuals who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, he has pardoned 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes, marking the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.
The commutations announced by the White House are for individuals who have completed at least one year of home confinement after their release. This decision comes as prisons were identified as high-risk environments for COVID-19 transmission, with approximately 1 in 5 prisoners contracting the virus at one point.
