--- title: President Obama Commutes Sentences for 214 Federal Prisoners description: Obama has granted 562 communications, more than the last nine presidents combined. canonical: https://time.com/4437410/president-obama-commutes-214-federal-sentences/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T19:22:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:45:12.668Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Commutes Sentences for 214 Federal Prisoners og:description: It is the most commutations in a single day in more than a century og:url: https://time.com/4437410/president-obama-commutes-214-federal-sentences/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf83890c4f8dbecb5/6988a0ffcd1bba5435701d47/president-obama-commutes-prisoners-sentences.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Obama And Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Hold Joint News Conference In White House Rose Garden og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Commutes Sentences for 214 Federal Prisoners twitter:description: It is the most commutations in a single day in more than a century twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf83890c4f8dbecb5/6988a0ffcd1bba5435701d47/president-obama-commutes-prisoners-sentences.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Commutes Sentences for 214 Federal Prisoners > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Aug 3, 2016 7:22 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama participates in a joint news conference with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the East Room at the White House August 2, 2016 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Barack Obama participates in a joint news conference with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the East Room at the White House August 2, 2016 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Aug 3, 2016 7:22 PM UTC President Barack Obama [granted clemency](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/08/03/president-obama-commutes-sentences-214-additional-people) for 214 federal inmates on Wednesday, the White House announced. Obama has now [granted more commutations than the previous nine presidents](http://time.com/4320057/president-obama-commutes-58-sentences/), with 562 inmates released during his tenure. Wednesday’s release was the largest grant in a single day since at least 1900, according to the White House. Many of those released are non-violent drug offenders, for whom Obama has directed the Department of Justice to prioritize petitions for commutations, according to the White House. Some 197 of those individuals released during Obama’s time in office were serving life sentences. Though granted clemency by the president, commutation is not a “get out of jail free” card, as many will serve more time after having their sentences commuted to current sentencing guidelines, while others will [begin to process out of federal custody](http://time.com/4380476/prisons-obama-administration-reforms/?iid=sr-link4). Obama made history last July when he became t[he first sitting president to visit a federal penitentiary](http://time.com/3960227/barack-obama-federal-prison/?iid=sr-link1). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4437410/president-obama-commutes-214-federal-sentences/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4437410/president-obama-commutes-214-federal-sentences/"},"headline":"President Obama Commutes Sentences for 214 Federal Prisoners","datePublished":"2016-08-03T19:22:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:45:12.668Z","description":"It is the most commutations in a single day in more than a century","url":"https://time.com/4437410/president-obama-commutes-214-federal-sentences/","keywords":["White House","Justice Department","justice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf83890c4f8dbecb5/6988a0ffcd1bba5435701d47/president-obama-commutes-prisoners-sentences.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf83890c4f8dbecb5/6988a0ffcd1bba5435701d47/president-obama-commutes-prisoners-sentences.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama And Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Hold Joint News Conference In White House Rose Garden","caption":"Obama And Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Hold Joint News Conference In White House Rose Garden","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4437410/president-obama-commutes-214-federal-sentences/","name":"President Obama Commutes Sentences for 214 Federal Prisoners"}}]}] ```