On Tuesday, President Barack Obama granted commutations for an additional 111 federal inmates, bringing the total number of grants offered up to 325 in the month of August alone—the largest number of commutations ever granted by a president in a single month, the White House reports.
Earlier this month, the president had granted more commutations in a single day than any other president, reducing the sentences of 214 federal inmates. Now the whopping 325 total means that, in just one month, Obama has granted more commutations in a single year than any other president in nearly a century, the White House notes.
As the White House blog post notes, to date, Obama has granted 673 commutations—which is more than the previous 10 presidents combined. Of those commutations, 232 of the prisoners were serving life sentences.
"We must remember that these are individuals—sons, daughters, parents, and in many cases, grandparents—who have taken steps toward rehabilitation and who have earned their second chance," White House counsel Neil Eggleston wrote in the White House blog post.
"They are individuals who received unduly harsh sentences under outdated laws for committing largely nonviolent drug crimes, for example, the 35 individuals whose life sentences were commuted today,” he continued. “For each of these applicants, the President considers the individual merits of each application to determine that an applicant is ready to make use of his or her second chance."
Read more at Whitehouse.gov.