--- description: A prisoner has rejected enrolment in a residential drug treatment program in exchange for early release. title: Inmate Rejects Offer of Clemency From President Obama image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt002f673d58dd9a25/6988b334cf40a82bd4c45df3/gettyimages-629521458.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Inmate Rejects Offer of Clemency From President Obama by [Kate Samuelson](/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 16, 2016 3:35 PM CUT  U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks before signing the 21st Century Cures Act into law at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building December 13, 2016 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks before signing the 21st Century Cures Act into law at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building December 13, 2016 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 16, 2016 3:35 PM CUT A prisoner carrying out a drug trafficking sentence has made history by becoming the first inmate to refuse enrolling in a residential drug treatment program in exchange for early release under President Obama’s clemency program. Arnold Ray Jones, who was granted a [presidential commutation](http://time.com/3640339/obama-clemency-christmas/ "undefined")—a pardon which would have allowed him to be [absolved of his conviction](http://time.com/4547327/president-obama-clemency-campaign/ "undefined")—by [President Obama](http://time.com/4604505/white-house-putin-dnc-hacking-election-russia-trump/ "undefined") on Aug. 3, refused to accept one of the conditions that came with his clemency, [_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/10/14/obama-grants-clemency-inmate-refuses-arnold-ray-jones/92005682/ "undefined") reports. If Jones, 50, had accepted the condition of enrollment in a residential drug treatment program, he would have been released from the low-security Texas prison he’s currently living in in two year’s time (August 2018) rather than in April 2019 at the earliest. Jones is the first inmate to have refused a presidential commutation because of the residential drug treatment program condition. The White House and the Justice Department have not revealed the specifics of the case but inmate records acquired by _USA Today_ showed that Jones used crack cocaine weekly in the year before his arrest and that drug treatment programs he’s completed in the past have been unsuccessful. \[[_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/10/14/obama-grants-clemency-inmate-refuses-arnold-ray-jones/92005682/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4604705/inmate-rejects-obama-clemency/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4604705/inmate-rejects-obama-clemency/"},"headline":"Inmate Rejects Offer of Clemency From President Obama","datePublished":"2016-12-16T15:35:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:31:55.924Z","description":"Because he didn't want to enroll in a residential drug treatment program","url":"https://time.com/4604705/inmate-rejects-obama-clemency/","keywords":["Crime","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt002f673d58dd9a25/6988b334cf40a82bd4c45df3/gettyimages-629521458.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt002f673d58dd9a25/6988b334cf40a82bd4c45df3/gettyimages-629521458.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Signs 21st Century Cures Act","caption":"President Obama Signs 21st Century Cures Act","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/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4604705/inmate-rejects-obama-clemency/","name":"Inmate Rejects Offer of Clemency From President Obama"}}]}] ```