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Former Prisoner Informant Appointed Deputy Director of BOP by On June 5, 2025, Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) tapped Tennessee businessman Joshua J. Smith, 50, to serve as Deputy Director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Smith, whom Trump pardoned in his first term, is the first former prisoner …
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Trump Pardons Virginia Sheriff Convicted of a Bribes-for-Badges Scheme by On May 27, 2025, President Donald Trump (R) issued an unconditional pardon for Scott Jenkins, 53, a former Northern Virginia sheriff who was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for 12 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and bribery. The pardon …
Tennessee Board of Parole Spanked for Failing to Make Recommendation to Governor on Prisoner’s Clemency Application by In Tennessee, a state law—T.C.A. § 40-27-101—allows prisoners to apply for clemency in the form of commutation of their sentence or a pardon. When the Board of Parole receives an application, it is supposed …
Article • May 1, 2025 • from PLN May, 2025
Former Prisoner Appointed President’s Pardon “Czar” by On February 20, 2025, Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) appointed former prisoner Alice Marie Johnson, 69, to serve as his pardon “czar,” making recommendations of federal prisoners that he may consider for clemency. Though not an official cabinet position in the President’s administration, …
Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025
Biden Clemency Recipients Included Virginians Sentenced for “Acquitted Conduct” by Of 2,500 nonviolent drug convictions commuted just before the end of his term by Pres. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D) on January 17, 2025, two went to Virginia prisoners Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne, who spent decades behind bars for …
Pardoned Insurrectionists Brought to D.C. Jail Demanded Others’ Immediate Release by When Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) returned to office on January 20, 2025, he pardoned some 1,500 prisoners convicted of storming the U.S. Capitol to keep him in office in January 2021, after his loss to former Pres. Joseph …
Article • February 15, 2025 • from PLN February, 2025
California Governor Pardons Former Prisoner Podcaster of “Ear Hustle” by One of 17 pardons granted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on November 27, 2024, went to former San Quentin prisoner Earlonne Woods, 53, a host of the popular Ear Hustle podcast that he helped start from his cell in …
Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024
Oklahoma Lawmakers Sue for Pardon and Parole Board Texts After Condemned Prisoner Denied Clemency by On March 14, 2024, a dustup over a contentious clemency request for condemned Oklahoma prisoner Richard Glossip spilled into state court, where a judge refused to dismiss a suit filed by two state lawmakers to …
Article • August 15, 2024 • from PLN August, 2024
Maryland Pardons 175,000 Marijuana Misdemeanor Convictions by Maryland prisoners with misdemeanor marijuana convictions had them erased as of June 18, 2024, when Gov. Wes Moore (D) issued pardons for every state misdemeanor conviction for possession of pot or related paraphernalia. The pardons will not release any prisoners; the misdemeanor convictions …
Article • July 1, 2024 • from PLN July, 2024
Filed under: Pardons/Clemency
Hope Against Hope by Daryl Waters by Daryl Waters A candid portrait of the experience of obtaining clemency in Louisiana—a route to freedom now severely threatened by a new carceral governor. When the team of filmmakers behind the Visiting Room Project approached Daryl Waters about making a short profile of …
Former Illinois Prisoner Pursuing PhD After 27 Years of Incarceration by When Illinois prisoner J. Le’Dell Pippins, 54, defied the odds to gain acceptance into the University of Iowa’s Ph.D. in Criminology program, it proved a key factor in the decision by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) to commute Pippins’ 30-year …
Article • March 1, 2024 • from PLN March, 2024
Oklahoma Parole Board Resignations Threaten Prisoner Clemencies by Just three of five seats remained filled on the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board after Chairman Richard L. Smothermon mailed his resignation on August 4, 2023, to Chief Justice M. John Kane IV of the state Supreme Court, which appointed Smothermon to …
$2.9 Million Paid by Maryland to Exonerated Former Prisoner by A former Maryland prisoner’s January 2023 exoneration marked the end of a long and painful chapter in a 1981 double murder he was unjustly convicted of. On July 5, 2023, state authorities awarded John Huffington, 61, nearly $2.9 million for …
Article • February 1, 2024 • from PLN February, 2024
Champion of Death Row Prisoners Accused of Spoiling Oklahoman’s Clemency by When Oklahoma prisoner Anthony Sanchez, 44, was executed on September 21, 2023, for the 1996 killing of University of Oklahoma dance student Juli Busken, Rev. Jeff Hood was by his side. But the attorneys that Sanchez had by then …
Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023
Condemned Louisiana Prisoners Lose Bid for Clemency Hearings by The last five of a group consisting of condemned Louisiana prisoners who had sought clemency hearings were shot down by the state Board of Pardons on October 13, 2023. Among them was Antoinette Frank, a former New Orleans cop and the …
Article • September 15, 2023 • from PLN September, 2023
Oregon Governor Commutes All Death Sentences by Mark Wilson by Mark Wilson “I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people – even if a terrible crime placed them in prison,” said outgoing Oregon …
Article • August 15, 2023 • from PLN August, 2023
Executive Inaction: States and Federal Government Fail to Use Commutations as a Release Mechanism by Naila Awan, Katie Rose Quandt By Naila Awan and Katie Rose Quandt   On April 26, 2022, President Joe Biden used his executive powers to commute the federal sentences of 75 people — a first step …
Article • August 15, 2023 • from PLN August, 2023
Filed under: Pardons/Clemency
Connecticut GOP Lawmakers Force Governor to Replace Pardon Board Chair, Stopping All Commutation Hearings by Jordan Arizmendi by Jordan Arizmendi A spate of Connecticut commutations in 2022 didn’t come close to resolving the backlog in applications, only one of which had been granted in two years. But it piqued the …
Article • July 15, 2023 • from PLN July, 2023
California LGBTQ Pardon Initiative Falls Short by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman Three years after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) unveiled a plan to pardon LGBTQ Californians prosecuted for their sexual orientation, the program has exactly one living beneficiary: Henry Pachnowski, 83, whose 1967 lewd conduct conviction was pardoned in 2022. …
Article • July 15, 2023 • from PLN July, 2023
Filed under: Pardons/Clemency
Biden Granting More Pardons Than Trump, Fewer Than Obama by Jordan Arizmendi by Jordan Arizmendi A raft of Presidential pardons for federal marijuana-possession convictions ballooned the total number of clemencies extended to current and former prisoners by Pres. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D). But even without those pardons, Biden had …
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