Obama Commutes Sentence Of Essex County Inmate, Drug Offender

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — If all goes according to plan, Essex County resident Eladio Cruz will be a free man on Feb. 3.

The Newark man was among 102 prisoners nationwide who had their sentences commuted by President Barack Obama on Thursday, bringing the total for Obama's term to 774 — more than the past 11 presidents combined.

In June of 2002, Cruz reportedly received 262 months in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute a mixture containing crack cocaine.

Cruz isn’t the only Essex County inmate to receive a commuted sentence from Obama. In August, the president commuted the jail sentence for another Newark resident and drug offender, Eugene Kenneth Brinson.

• See related article: Obama Commutes Jail Sentence For Newark Man

Since the "War on Drugs" began in the 1980s, the number of people in jail for drug offenses increased from 41,000 in 1980 to nearly a half-million in 2014, according to The Sentencing Project, and one in nine people are serving life sentences. Advocates for reducing prison populations say that sentences of nonviolent offenses should be capped at 20 years.

Many of Obamas commutations involve righting "unduly harsh sentences under outdated laws for committing largely nonviolent drug crimes," noted Neil Eggleston, White House counsel to the president, following the last round of commutations.

"We must remember that these are individuals -- sons, daughters, parents, and in many cases, grandparents -- who have taken steps toward rehabilitation and who have earned their second chance," Eggleston wrote on the White House blog.

Photo: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com