LIST: Obama Commutes Sentences of 8 New Yorkers in Federal Prison

President Barack Obama shortened the sentences of 214 people, including eight from New York on Wednesday, the most commutations in a single day since at least 1900.

Nearly all were serving sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, and 67 people were serving life sentences. Many of the 214 people will be set free at the end of the year, while others will remain locked up another year or two. Some of them will have to enroll in mandatory drug programs once released.

Here in New York, the following eight people were spared in Wednesday's move by the president:

• Dewayne L. Comer – Syracuse, NY

Offense: Engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise; conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine and cocaine base; distribution of cocaine base (two counts); possession with the intent to distribute cocaine base; possession with the intent to distribute cocaine; Northern District of New York

Sentence: Life imprisonment; five years' supervised release (Dec. 8, 1997)

Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Dec. 1, 2016.

• Dawan Croskery – Buffalo, NY

Offense: Engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise; money laundering; Western District of New York

Sentence: 240 months' imprisonment; five years' supervised release (Dec. 16, 2004)

Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Dec. 1, 2016.

• Maynard Dennis – Liverpool, NY

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute cocaine base; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; Northern District of New York

Sentence: 300 months' imprisonment; eight years' supervised release (Sept. 7, 2005)

Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Aug. 3, 2018, conditioned upon enrollment in residential drug treatment.

• Ronald Evans – New York, NY

Offense: 1. Possession with intent to distribute in excess of five grams of cocaine base; District of Maine 2. Supervised release violation (possession with intent to distribute cocaine base); District of Maine

Sentence: 1. 270 months' imprisonment; eight years’ supervised release (Aug. 13, 2003) 2. 12 months' imprisonment (concurrent) (Aug. 13, 2003)

Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Aug. 3, 2018, conditioned upon enrollment in residential drug treatment.

• Raymond Fox – New York, NY

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base; distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base; Southern District of New York

Sentence: 240 months' imprisonment; 10 years' supervised release (Aug. 2, 2005)

Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Dec. 1, 2016.

• Michael L. Moore – Mount Vernon, NY

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine; distribution of 500 grams or more of cocaine; distribution of five kilograms or more of cocaine; Eastern District of Virginia

Sentence: 360 months' imprisonment; five years' supervised release (June 5, 1998); amended to 292 months' imprisonment (Oct. 27, 2015)

Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Dec. 1, 2016.

• Kenneth Junior Smith – Brooklyn, NY

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine base, aid and abet (three counts); felon in possession of a firearm; District of South Carolina

Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years' supervised release (June 14, 1999)

Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Dec. 1, 2016.

• Terrence Upshaw – Yonkers, NY

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine base; distribution of cocaine base; Northern District of New York

Sentence: Life imprisonment (Dec. 29, 1998)

Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on Aug. 3, 2017.

The president has been pushing hard for shorter sentences for nonviolent criminals.

“This is a good day — not just for the 214 individuals who are getting a hard-earned second chance, but for the people at the White House and the Department of Justice and at advocacy organizations across the country who work every day to remedy injustices in our sentencing laws,” White House counsel Neil Eggleston told BuzzFeed,which first reported the news.

“We’re going to keep our foot on the gas pedal when it comes to reviewing applications for clemency, but we are also going to need leaders in both parties in Congress to pass long overdue reforms to our criminal justice system to achieve lasting change on the scale that is needed.”

Obama has now commuted 562 sentences during his presidency, which the White House says is more than the last eight presidents combined. In May, Obama lessened sentences for 56 people.

While leading the way on shorter sentences, the president has been reluctant to issue full pardons compared to his predecessors. His 70 since he took office is the lowest of any president since James Garfield, who died six months into his term, according to Yahoo News.

A pardon essentially wipes clean the slate of a convicted criminal. A commutation only lessens the punishment.

Since the so-called "War on Drugs" began in the 1980s, the number of people in jail for drug offenses increased from 41,000 in 1980 to nearly half a 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.

Image via the White House