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At 9:10 a.m. Friday, the intercom blared at the federal prison here as Weldon Angelos walked the track on this sprawling campus of drab gray buildings in California's Central Valley.
The booming voice of a prison official called an inmate to the main office. About 25 minutes later, the official came on the intercom again, summoning another prisoner.
Angelos knew exactly what was happening. The prisoners had heard a rumor the night before that President Obama might grant early release to certain drug offenders before he left Washington for the holidays. Angelos was excited, anxious. This was it. The lucky inmates on Obama's list were being called inside to take phone calls from their attorneys, who would tell them the good news.
After the two inmates were called, the minutes ticked past 30, then 45, and the intercom remained silent.
"I felt sick," said Angelos, 36, who is serving a 55-year sentence for selling about $1,000 worth of marijuana. "It was devastating."
And for Angelos and his supporters, that is the cruelty of the clemency process set up by the Obama administration to give relief to drug offenders who received harsh sentences over the past couple of decades in the nation's war on drugs. The president wants to use his clemency power to undo past injustices, and on Friday, in the largest single-day grant of his presidency, he signed 95 commutations.
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The booming voice of a prison official called an inmate to the main office. About 25 minutes later, the official came on the intercom again, summoning another prisoner.
Angelos knew exactly what was happening. The prisoners had heard a rumor the night before that President Obama might grant early release to certain drug offenders before he left Washington for the holidays. Angelos was excited, anxious. This was it. The lucky inmates on Obama's list were being called inside to take phone calls from their attorneys, who would tell them the good news.
After the two inmates were called, the minutes ticked past 30, then 45, and the intercom remained silent.
"I felt sick," said Angelos, 36, who is serving a 55-year sentence for selling about $1,000 worth of marijuana. "It was devastating."
And for Angelos and his supporters, that is the cruelty of the clemency process set up by the Obama administration to give relief to drug offenders who received harsh sentences over the past couple of decades in the nation's war on drugs. The president wants to use his clemency power to undo past injustices, and on Friday, in the largest single-day grant of his presidency, he signed 95 commutations.
Link:
