President Biden Pardons Prisoners and Commutes Sentences

 I've been writing recently about the parole power of the Executive Branch. This past week, President Biden announced the largest ever single day exercising of this power. He will commute the sentences of 1,500 federal prisoners and pardon the convictions of 39 people. There may even be others to follow. 

According to the news media, most of the commutations are federal prisoners who were released on tether/house arrest during the Covid-19 crisis and who have since stayed offense free. This is a perfect example of how the commutation process should work. These prisoners have demonstrated that they are not a danger to their communities, and it makes perfect sense to commute their sentences. 

Governor Whitmer, you might remember, refused to release any Michigan prisoners on a similar community-based tether program during the pandemic. Despite the high death rate in Michigan's prison system, the governor resisted all calls to release even the especially vulnerable elderly prisoners who could be released. 

President Biden's pardons have earned more criticisms than the commutations he's issuing. The most controversial is Biden's pardoning of the judge who sent hundreds of youth to corrections facilities in exchange for money. Essentially, he enriched himself on the backs of vulnerable children. It's unclear to me what earned this former judge a pardon, but the optics of it are terrible. It stinks of one powerful person protecting another (former) powerful person. 

President Biden won't be the first or the last president to abuse his power, especially when the powers of the Executive Branch have been expanding (mostly unchecked) for decades. 

Speaking of checking, I have a correction to make from my last post. Apparently presumptive pardons, though not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, have been used since the founding of America. The first President to issue presumptive pardons was George Washington when he pardoned participants of the Whiskey Rebellion before they'd even been charged or tried. Andrew Johnson pardoned Confederate soldiers and officials for their acts of rebellion, Jimmy Carter pardoned draft dodgers, and Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon before he'd even been charged or convicted for his role in Watergate. 

I still think that presumptive pardons are unconstitutional, but I'm certainly no constitutional expert. 

On another very sad note, this past week, we had another prisoner commit suicide by jumping from the fourth gallery in my housing unit. It was traumatic for everyone housed here, me included. It's unclear exactly what his reason was for choosing to end his life, but mental health issues were definitely involved. The Detroit Free Press covered the story, if you want to read more about it. Nevertheless, I felt it was important to mention, especially at this time of year when hopelessness and depression affect many prisoners. Regardless of whatever crime this young man committed, his life still mattered.