So far, in 2016, he has granted 493. Consequently, the President’s current total for commutations (673 – almost all for drug offenders) is greater than that of several of his predecessors combined and more than any single president has granted since Calvin Coolidge.
Weldon Angelos’ release from prison is a high-water mark for criminal justice reform advocates and a sign that maybe the tide is turning against the prison industrial complex and the policies that produce it