11:20 a.m.: This article has been updated with additional details and a quote from White House counsel Neil Eggleston. All told, Obama has commuted 562 sentences during his presidency — more than the past nine presidents combined, the White House said. President Barack Obama on Wednesday cut short the sentences of 214 federal inmates, including 67 life sentences, in what the White House called the largest batch of commutations on a single day in more than a century. 12:14 p.m.: This article has been updated with more quotes and background about President Obama’s push to lessen the burden for nonviolent drug crimes. Civil liberties groups praised that policy change but have pushed the Obama administration to grant commutations at a faster pace.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 03, 2016 18:04 UTC