OBAMA JUST GRANTED CLEMENCY TO 111 FEDERAL INMATES, 35 OF WHOM HAD LIFE SENTENCES

The total number of prisoners granted clemency by Obama so far is 673, a massive number compared to his predecessors

By Tess Owen

VICE News
August 30, 2016

The summer after Timothy Tyler graduated from high school, he discovered the Grateful Dead. It was also when he says he first tried LSD.

That was in 1987. For years afterward, Tyler made his way across the country following the Dead, selling tequila shots, whippets, fruit smoothies, fried dough, and acid. He was arrested in 1991 and charged with possession of LSD; not longer after that, he got busted again, resulting in three years of probation. He then sold acid multiple times via mail to a friend who was working as an undercover informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Because of federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws passed in 1986, a 25-year-old Tyler was sentenced to life behind bars for selling about $3,000 worth of LSD. But on Tuesday, President Barack Obama granted Tyler clemency along with 110 other federal inmates. Thirty-five of them, including Tyler, were serving life sentences.

"They are individuals who received unduly harsh sentences under outdated laws for committing largely nonviolent drug crimes," wrote White House CounselNeil Eggleston. "The individualized nature of this relief highlights the need for bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation."

Until Tuesday, the Clemency Report, which identifies and profiles prisoners thought to be prime candidates for commuted sentences, listed Tyler as the prisoner most worthy of clemency in the entire country. In two years, he will be a free man, conditional upon his enrollment in a drug rehabilitation center.

This latest round brings the total number of prisoners granted clemency by Obama up to 673. It's a massive number compared to his predecessors, but it's also a far cry from the 10,000 inmates former Attorney General Eric Holder claimed would be eligible under a clemency initiative announced in 2014.

Though there have been increasing calls in recent years to abolish mandatory minimums, calls for stiffer sentences, not more lenient ones, are also making news of late. When Stanford University student Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in jail for a felony sexual assault conviction — he is set to be released this week after serving only three months — public outrage was so great that it inspired a California bill proposing mandatory minimums for people convicted of similar sexual assaults.

In addition, after NBA star Dwyane Wade's cousin was caught in crossfire in Chicago and killed on Friday, it was revealed that the alleged shooters were felons on parole. That in turn prompted calls from local officials for stiffer sentencing.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Tyler was far from being worthy of clemency. The worthless piece of shit was a repeat offender in the sales of LSD. While his life sentence may have been harsh, it was not unreasonable for a repeat offender.

As for non-violent offenders, I want to make two important points. First, today’s non-violent offender could become tomorrow’s murderous criminal. And I have this saying: A ‘non-violent’ criminal in jail is one less criminal on the street!