President Obama Initiates New Clemency Program for Federal Inmates Nationwide

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. - April 26, 2014 - PRLog -- It was announced today that AG Eric Holder and President Obama are launching a clemency initiative in order to identify suitable inmates to take advantage of this new clemency program. This initiative falls under the old Commutation of Sentence Program but has new expanded criteria for federal inmates. These new expanded criteria will allow more federal prison inmates to be eligible for this program and reap the rewards of this new Clemency Initiative. Inmates who have a clean prison record, do not present a threat to public safety, and were sentenced under out-of-date laws that have since been changed, and are no longer seen as appropriate, may benefit from the new Clemency Program. Those defendants who were sentenced before the Fair Sentencing Act are most likely the most obvious choices for the program but this new Clemency program is not limited to crack offenders.

“This new Clemency Program”, says Michael Frantz, Federal Prison Consultant, “is open to all inmates who meet the new criteria.” Those new six criteria are listed below. The inmate, in order to be eligible for the program must be:

(1) an inmate who is currently serving a federal sentence in prison and, by operation of law, likely would have received a substantially lower sentence if convicted of the same offense today;

(2) non-violent, low-level offenders without significant ties to large-scale criminal organizations, gangs, or cartels;

(3) have served at least 10 years of their sentence;

(4) do not have a significant criminal history;

(5) have demonstrated good conduct in prison; and

(6) have no history of violence prior to or during their current term of imprisonment.

Frantz, Director of Jail Time Consulting, also stated, “The Pardon Attorney’s office, formerly run by Ron Rodgers, has in our opinion, been extremely dysfunctional.” Pardon Attorney Rodgers got the boot and is no longer in this office. This is great news. He is being replaced by Deborah Leff, a woman who is deeply concerned with clemency issues for federal prisoners. Ms. Leff is Acting Senior Counselor for Access to Justice at the US Department of Justice. The Access to Justice Initiative was established in March 2010 to address the access-to-justice crisis in the criminal and civil justice system. She is perfect for this new position.

One of the most significant aspects of the new criteria is that the President and AG are willing to consider prisoners who have served just 10 years of their sentences instead of just those serving life sentences. Another significant aspect is that now they will consider candidates (inmates) who are serving non-drug sentences such as mail fraud, wire fraud, identity theft and many more nonviolent gun offenses. Frantz stated that there are at least  22,000 to 23,000 federal prisoners have already served 10 years of their sentences. Of course they would have to meet the other five criteria also, but that is quite a few federal inmates that may be considered.

It is important to note that this Clemency Initiative should not be misunderstood. It does not in any way minimize the seriousness of our federal criminal law and it is designed, first and foremost, with public safety in mind. Yet there are many inmates who were sentenced unjustly, have served enough time, and need to be released to their families and loved ones. Hopefully this new program will do just that.

ABOUT

Michael Frantz is a leading Federal Prison Consultant with Jail Time Consulting (JTC) and the Prison Consulting Group (PCG). The staffs of JTC and PCG provide sentence reduction strategies, research, and many pre- and post-sentencing services for their clients. Michael has authored a bestselling book on federal prison titled, “Jail Time, What you need to know…Before you go to federal prison!” He has also authored over thirty-five JT Special Reports© on various federal prison issues affecting both the inmate and his/her family. They are available on the website. He is a nationally recognized authority on federal prison and has published over 50 articles nationwide. Mr. Frantz has been contacted as a federal prison expert resource by the Fox News Network, the Oprah Winfrey Channel, ABC’s 20/20 news show, the New York Times, and many television stations and radio stations nationwide.  He can be reached at 954-522-2254, or toll free at 800-804-4686, or at mike@jailtimeconsulting.com. His website for Jail Time consulting is visit http://jailtimeconsulting.com/index.php.