“We applaud President Biden’s clemency action announced today which will ensure that nearly 1,500 people can continue to live and work in their communities without the threat of re-incarceration or the limitations of home confinement. 

“The critical work ahead is to move bold clemency action that focuses on the thousands of people serving disproportionately long and racially disparate sentences in federal prison. We view this announcement today as a promising sign of what’s to come, and we welcome President Biden’s continued commitment to reviewing additional clemency petitions of people whose sentences would be shorter under today’s laws and policies as his term draws to a close.” 

Background 

The CARES Act allowed over 13,000 people in the federal prison system to be released to home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program has been a resounding success: An April 2024 BOP study found that people released under the CARES Act showed lower rates of recidivism after release than people released in other circumstances.

Thousands more people are currently serving outdated and disproportionately long federal prison sentences that would be shorter under today’s law and policy. The federal prison population sits just shy of 158,000, making it the largest prison system in the country with staggering racial disparities. There are over 7,000 commutation applications awaiting the President’s decision. His decisions can be guided by the recommendations of the Pardon Attorney, which are informed by a vigorous vetting process, to ensure a fair, thorough, and transparent process.

Commuting disproportionately long prison sentences is an effective tool for safely reducing the federal prison population. President Obama’s Clemency Initiative resulted in almost 20,000 years of prison sentences saved in total. And numerous studies of recent policies that released people early from federal prison provide clear evidence that the broad use of commutations can reduce the federal prison population without compromising public safety.