Eight Marylanders are among the 214 federal prisoners whose sentences were shortened Wednesday by President Barack Obama, the White House said. It was the most commutations in a single day in more than a century.
The prisoners include four from Baltimore and four from other parts of Maryland. All were convicted of drug crimes; five had been sentenced to life in prison.
Obama has now shortened 562 sentences — more than the previous nine presidents combined, the White House said. Almost 200 of the prisoners had been serving life sentences.
White House counsel Neil Eggleston says Obama will continue to grant clemency to inmates during the final months of his presidency. He says those receiving commutations were imprisoned under antiquated, overly harsh sentencing laws.
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