The Leadership Conference Applauds President Biden for Historic Use of Clemency Authority, Urges Additional Action
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rachel Hooper, [email protected]
WASHINGTON — Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement after President Biden announced clemency for nearly 1,500 people:
“The president of the United States has enormous power to right wrongs, fix injustices, and show compassion for incarcerated people, and today President Biden did exactly that. We welcome President Biden’s critically important clemency action commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people released from prison under the CARES Act, many of whom would have received lower sentences under today’s laws, policies, and practices, and pardoning 39 others. While historic, this action must be just the start of his robust use of the executive clemency power. It is clear that the administration understands this nation is in urgent need of broad and systemic criminal-legal reforms that prioritize rehabilitation over retribution. We look forward to the additional steps President Biden plans to take in the weeks ahead to commute the sentences of more individuals, including those who are currently incarcerated and who have been subject to long and harsh criminal sentences and racial disparities in our criminal-legal system.
“The United States is a world leader in incarceration, imprisoning and supervising nearly 5.5 million people through a criminal-legal system ripe with racial and economic inequities and discrimination. We urge President Biden to continue to use clemency actions, advancing racial justice and rectifying unjust and inequitable sentences.
“The CARES Act home confinement program, which began in March 2020, allowed for the transfer of thousands of people serving sentences for low-level offenses out of life-threatening conditions at federal prisons and into home confinement. It’s one of the most successful release programs in the history of our justice system, and now nearly 1,500 people released under this program do not have to worry about returning to prison and being torn away from their families and communities. Commuting their sentences was a just and equitable step in the right direction.
“We now need President Biden to continue to use his clemency power on more people who were not already released under the CARES Act and who are currently incarcerated. President Biden pardoned 39 people who have shown successful rehabilitation and who have shown a commitment to making their communities stronger and safer. We know there are many more individuals who President Biden could pardon, including the people in federal custody serving harsh sentences for drug offenses, and he must commute the sentences of the 40 people remaining on federal death row to life sentences, in line with his campaign promise to address the federal death penalty.
“We hope that President Biden will focus on giving second chances to deserving people currently in prison, particularly those who remain incarcerated despite changes in the law. In the weeks ahead, the president has an urgent and historic opportunity to improve lives, rectify injustices, and ensure his legacy is one defined by providing people with the second chances they deserve. We urge him to do so.”
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.
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