Joe Biden will issue the first pardons of his presidential term on Tuesday, in addition to reducing dozens of prison sentences and launching criminal justice reform initiatives.
The president will pardon three people and will reduce the sentences of 75 additional people, many of whom have been convicted of non-violent drug crimes.
Betty Jo Bogans, 51, will be pardoned for a 1998 conviction of possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute in Texas. Bogans was arrested for attempting to transport the drugs for her boyfriend and served seven years.
Dexter Jackson, 52, is receiving a pardon after being convicted in 2002 of allowing cannabis distributors to use his pool hall.
Biden is also pardoning Abraham Bolden, 86, the first Black person assigned to a president’s Secret Service detail, guarding John F Kennedy.
Bolden was convicted of attempting to sell government information, but a key witnesses in his trial admitted to lying at the prosecution’s request. Bolden has maintained his innocence throughout.
“America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption and rehabilitation,” said Biden in a statement announcing the clemencies.
“Elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and law enforcement leaders agree that our criminal justice system can and should reflect these core values that enable safer and stronger communities.”
Several people who received reduced sentences from Biden were serving their sentences in house arrest due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many of those who were granted commutations would have received lesser sentences if they were sentenced today, a result of a 2018 bipartisan sentencing reform law passed under the Trump administration.
The White House also announced a series of new reentry programs and policies for incarcerated people and those who have been recently released, including a $145m job training program at federal prisons.
“Helping those who served their time return to their families and become contributing members of their communities is one of the most effective ways to reduce recidivism and decrease crime,” said Biden.
But for many criminal justice reform activists, Biden’s announcements fall short of their expectations, with organizers calling for broadly commuting sentences for non-violent drug offenses and freeing more people who were previously convicted.
Amid the clemency announcements, the Biden administration has also faced congressional scrutiny for the mistreatment of incarcerated people in the federal Bureau of Prisons.
During his 2020 election campaign, Biden promised to reduce the number of people incarcerated and divert those convicted of non-violent drug offenses to treatment and drug courts.
Biden also promised to address racial and economic disparities in the US prison population, inequalities he helped usher in through the 1994 crime bill he oversaw while previously serving as Senate judiciary chair. Many criminal justice experts argue that the crime bill contributed to the harsh and disproportionate sentencing of Black people.
The US prison population remains the largest in the world. Despite having less than 5% of the world’s population, the US hosts a fifth of all incarcerated people.
