For Those Granted Clemency by White House, a Moment to Celebrate and Plan
The New York Times
Among those whose sentences were commuted was Rebecca Parrett, an Arizona woman who now hopes to travel to meet her great-grandchildren for the first time.
Early on Thursday morning, Rebecca Parrett received a phone call from her former hairdresser.
“Have you heard the news yet?” he asked her.
She hadn’t.
President Biden was commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people, he told her, and perhaps Mr. Parrett might be among them, suddenly free to travel to see her family.
But at that early hour, it was just a headline, the White House telling news organizations that it was the most commutations in a single day by an American president. It would be a couple of hours until the White House released the list of those being offered clemency — and until Ms. Parrett, 76, found her name.
All day, she said, “I have just been in tears.”
