President Obama Commutes New Haven Man's Prison Sentence

NEW HAVEN, CT — A New Haven man was among the 72 federal prisoners who received a commuted sentence from President Barack Obama Friday.

William Baldwin was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base (crack) in April 2009. He will now be released in 2018 if he enrolls in a drug treatment program.

"What President Obama has done for commutations is unprecedented in the modern era," wrote White House counsel Neil Eggleston on a White House blog.

Real change on sentencing policy including the elimination of excessive mandatory minimum sentences will have to come from bipartisan congressional action, Eggleston said.

Obama granted 98 commutations last week as well. His total number of commutations is 944, including 344 life sentences, according to a White House statement. That number is more than the previous 11 presidents combined, according to the Hill.

Those who were granted commutations had to earn them by obtaining a GED, learning vocational skills or addressing substance abuse issues.

"These stories demonstrate that neither society nor these individuals benefit from disproportionate sentences that keep rehabilitated individuals incarcerated, even after they have been adequately punished for their wrongdoing," Eggleston wrote.

Obama is far behind on presidential pardons. He has granted 70 pardons since he took office, according to the Justice Department. George W. Bush granted 176 pardons, Bill Clinton 456 and George H.W. Bush 77. Obama to date has granted less pardons than any other president since James Garfield in 1881, who granted none.