151 president obama will be commuting 102 additional prison sentences mostly for drugrelated crimes under outdated sentencing laws the white house announced today this brings the total of number of commuted sentences to 774 during obamas presidency more than the 11 previous presidents combined and 590 in 2016 alone more than any other year in us history the president will continue reviewing individual cases throughout the rest of his term according to a post on the white house blog by white house counsel neil eggleston commutations can be a powerful tool to rectify specific cases eggleston noted but the individualized nature of this relief highlights the need for bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation obama commutes sentences of 111 federal inmates president obama commutes sentences of 214 individuals most in 1 day since 1900 sentence undone a life lost to drugs and prison the commutations will not be effective immediately as some inmates will remain in prison until october 2018 the inmates who were granted clemency spanned from north dakota to missouri with sentences ranging from tens of years to life in prison ricky gene minor of niceville florida was sentenced to life without parole for a nonviolent drug offense in 2001 he was featured in an american civil liberties union report titled a living death life without parole for nonviolent offenses and the aclu represented him in his application minor has spent the last 15 years in prison according to the aclu and he has earned a ged and has taken classes in computer skills business real estate and accounting i have become a better man over the last 15 years minor said regarding the commutation according to aclu i am so grateful to have the opportunity to be the person i am now out in the world