In the weeks before leaving office, President Biden and his advisers wanted to undo what they saw as an injustice—and make history—by cutting short the prison sentences of thousands of people behind bars for drug offenses. The zeal to achieve that goal resulted in a haphazard White House process that prompted anger and dismay inside the Justice Department, where officials believed Biden granted mercy to many offenders with violent histories who didn’t deserve it, the Wall Street Journal reports. On his final Friday as president, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 inmates serving long prison terms, saying the moves would return people serving disproportionately long sentences for nonviolent offenses to their families and communities. “I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history,” Biden said. Only 258, or about 10%, of the recipients were recommended by the Justice Department, and Biden’s list included “individuals with violent backgrounds who otherwise wouldn’t meet the department’s standards for recommendation for receipt of clemency,” said an internal DOJ email.
The Justice Department’s pardon attorney, Elizabeth Oyer, sent the email to U.S. Attorneys around the U.S. She said, “I understand that some of the clemency grants are very upsetting.” The Biden commutations allowed some people to be freed within days. More will be released in the coming months. In some cases, Biden reduced the duration of lengthy sentences, but still left inmates to serve years behind bars. Some recipients had been accused of grave acts gang-related offenses, sexual violence and conspiracy to commit murder. Lairon Graham, a Buffalo man convicted of heading a conspiracy to sell fentanyl, heroin and cocaine, saw his 22-year prison sentence reduced by Biden to 12½ years. Graham pleaded guilty to a narcotics conspiracy and separate charges that he used force to coerce young women into sex work, including by brutally beating one victim on a near-daily basis. Another commutation under criticism was given to Adrian Peeler, who was facing nearly a decade left in a 15-year sentence for conspiring to distribute large amounts of cocaine. His federal prison term followed an earlier state sentence for murder conspiracy in the 1999 killings of an 8-year-old boy Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called the commutation "absolutely outrageous.” Oyer said the Justice Department’s input was minimal. She said hundreds of people on Biden’s list were deserving, but others weren’t. She added that the White House included people the Justice Department specifically rejected, and didn’t include hundreds of people the department recommended.
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