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 Nearly two years later the program is struggling under a deluge of
unprocessed cases, sparking concern within the administration and
among justice reform advocates over the fate of what was meant to be
legacy-defining achievement for Obama.
More than 8,000 cases out of more than 44,000 federal inmates who
applied have yet to make it to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
for review, lawyers involved in the program told Reuters. That is in
addition to about 9,000 cases that are still pending at the DOJ,
according to the department's own figures.
Only 187 inmates have had their sentences commuted, far below the
thousands expected by justice reform advocates and a tiny fraction
of the 2.2 million people behind bars in the United States, which
has the world's highest incarceration rate.
The administration said it wanted to decide on all the applications
before Obama's term ends next January, when the program will
automatically expire.
A senior DOJ official told Reuters it is calling on the lawyers'
group -- Clemency Project 2014 -- to simply hand over the
outstanding cases without further vetting, saying it is not working
fast enough. So far, the group estimates it has handed over around
200 cases.
 But criminal justice experts say the administration itself should
bear much of the blame. The idea to tap pro-bono attorneys to help
vet the cases originated with the DOJ, and critics say it should
have prepared its own staff to handle the large volume of
applications.
“It’s unfair to criticize the volunteer group that you asked to
help,” said Rachel Barkow, a criminal law professor at New York
University who has studied clemency in U.S. prisons.
She estimates that about 1,500 prisoners should be eligible for
commutation, saying the 187 granted so far does not "fulfill the
promise of the program."
The DOJ declined to comment when asked for its response to such
criticism.
The delays have left prisoners like Linda Byrnes, 69, in limbo.
“I thought clemency was for people like me,” Byrnes told Reuters
through an electronic messaging system from a federal prison in
Alderson, West Virginia.
Byrnes, who has spent 20 years in prison for distributing marijuana
and has two years left on her sentence, was recently diagnosed with
mouth cancer and has yet to hear whether she has been assigned a
lawyer after submitting her application to Clemency Project in
August 2014.
Obama, who has commuted more sentences than the past five presidents
combined, has been a stern critic of harsh U.S. sentencing policies
that he says have disproportionately burdened minorities.
Federal life sentences have fallen since Obama took office, from 280
in fiscal year 2009 to 153 in 2013, according to the U.S. Sentencing
Commission. About three quarters of the sentences were given to
minorities and most were for non-violent offences, the report said.
Clemency Project 2014 said it does not comment publicly on the
individuals it represents.
The group vets the applications, writes the petitions and sends them
to the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, which
oversees all pardons and sentence commutations and makes
recommendations for the president's approval.
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So far, 25,000 of 34,000 applications received by Clemency Project
have been rejected for failing to meet the basic criteria - no
record of violence, no significant ties to a gang or drug cartel,
good behavior in prison and completion of at least 10 years of
sentence. About 10,000 inmates did not go through the Clemency
Project and either applied directly to DOJ or through a paid
attorney. "It really would be a sad state of affairs if individuals
who had asked for a lawyer weren't considered in time because their
petitions never reached the pardon attorney's office," a DOJ
official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.
“CRITICAL ROLE”
A large number of mostly unqualified applications, a shortage of
lawyers and the complexity of the cases have slowed progress, said
Cynthia Roseberry, project manager for Clemency Project 2014.
"There are a lot of gray areas," said Roseberry, who estimates it
takes 30 days for one lawyer to review one case on average. "We've
got to unpack each of these applicants to see specifically what
factors affect them... and so that takes a little more time."
This includes finding pre-sentencing reports for each case,
determining if the person would have received a shorter sentence
under current law and reviewing prison behavior records.
Roseberry said the group was unaware of any request from the Justice
Department to hand over the pending applications. Roseberry said the
group's initially slow pace has picked up in recent months.
The Justice Department declined to elaborate on its private
communication with the lawyers.
The Pardon Attorney's office has brought in personnel from other
parts of the department to help to speed up reviews of petitions,
the DOJ official said.
Roseberry said about 3,000 applicants still need to be assigned to a
lawyer, and that it was not certain whether the group will be able
to submit all of the applications it has received before Obama
leaves office.
The group has more than 570 law firms and 30 law schools
contributing to the effort.
Some rejected prisoners and those who have yet to hear a decision
say they believe they would have had a better chance if they had
sent their clemency petition directly to the government.
Josie Ledezma was sentenced to life for conspiracy to transport
cocaine and applied for clemency through Clemency Project 2014. She
said she did not hear from them for six months and later learned
that her assigned lawyer had shut down her legal practice. In
January, nearly one year after applying, she was told Clemency
Project 2014 could not help her and encouraged her to apply
directly.
“I wrote back and asked what was it that made me not qualify, but
never got a response,” Ledezma told Reuters through an electronic
messaging service for federal prisoners.
(Editing by Jason Szep and Stuart Grudgings)
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