Biden issues first pardons and commutations of his presidency

President Biden is issuing the first pardons and sentence commutations of his presidency Tuesday, to people convicted of non-violent offenses, senior administration officials told reporters on a call Monday. The White House announced the acts of clemency as the administration introduces a strategy and new funding to transition people from incarceration to employment. 

The president is commuting the sentences of 75 nonviolent offenders, as well as pardoning three additional people who were convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. The president is pardoning Abraham Bolden of Illinois; Betty Jo Bogans of Texas; and Dexter Eugene Jackson of Georgia. The recipients whose sentences are being commuted have already served early 10 years on average in prison, a senior administration official said. Nearly one-third would have received shorter sentences if charged with the same offense today, the officials said.

Bolden, 86, a former U.S. Secret Service agent, was the first Black person to serve on a presidential detail. He was charged in 1964 with offenses related to trying to sell a copy of a Secret Service file. Bolden was convicted in a second trial after his first trial resulted in a hung jury, even though pivotal witnesses admitted they lied at the prosecutor's request.