Biden urged to use clemency powers to tackle ‘crisis’ of US mass incarceration

More than 60 members of Congress have written to Joe Biden calling on him to use his presidential clemency powers to reunite families, address unfair sentencing policies, and begin to tackle the scourge of mass incarceration, which they said was eroding “the soul of America”.

Biden has 61 days left before he leaves the White House in which he could pardon or commute the sentences of incarcerated Americans. The letter, signed by a number of prominent Democratic politicians and spearheaded by the progressive politician Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, urges Biden to act while he still can.

“Now is the time to use your clemency authority to rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges,” the letter demands.

Biden’s clemency power is one of the most concrete tools at his disposal during the lame-duck period of his presidency. During his term in the White House he has already granted 25 pardons and 132 commutations, including for people imprisoned for simple possession of marijuana and several court-martialed from the military because of their sexual orientation.

But he could make a far greater impact, should he choose to. There are currently more than 12,000 petitions for commutations and almost 4,000 requests for pardons on his desk.

“So many people who are serving extensive sentences today are there because of crimes that are victimless. That is astonishing, and it should be dealt with,” Clyburn told a press conference outside the Capitol building on Wednesday.

Clyburn’s participation in the appeal may carry weight with the president. The congressman is widely credited for having helped Biden secure the Democratic presidential nomination during the primary contests of 2020.

In their letter, the congress members urge Biden to focus on categories of prisoner who they say especially deserve his help. That includes the 40 men who are currently on federal death row and who are facing the threat of imminent execution once Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Other groups of incarcerated people highlighted by the group include women forced into crime or acts of self-defense by abusive domestic partners, and those serving long sentences because of the disparate sentencing rules around crack cocaine. In 1986 Ronald Reagan introduced harsher sentences for crack than the powder form of the drug, even though the only difference in their chemical composition is baking soda.

Crack tended to be used more widely by Black people and powder cocaine by white people. The Biden administration addressed the disparity in 2022 by leveling the sentences, but the change did not help those already imprisoned.

“The mass incarceration crisis is one of our country’s greatest failures,” said Pressley, whose father was incarcerated when she was a child as a result of his drug addiction. “President Biden was elected with a mandate for making compassionate change, and he has the power to do so right now.”