President Biden will commute the sentences of around 1,500 people, in what constitutes the largest single-day act of clemency for any president in modern history, according to the White House.
The commutations, announced in a statement Thursday, are for people who were released from prison and placed in home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to the commutations, Biden is also pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes.
Prisons became fertile breeding grounds for infection during the pandemic and some inmates were released in efforts to stop the virus from spreading.
The mass commutation is unlikely to be the last before Biden leaves office in January. The president said he would continue to review clemency petitions in the coming weeks.
The previous single-day record for presidential clemency was set by Barack Obama , with 330, shortly before he left office in 2017.
Biden has come under increasing pressure to use executive powers before leaving office.
Late last month, a group of lawmakers sent Biden a letter pushing him to grant clemency and issue pardons before President-elect Donald Trump takes over on Jan. 20.
That pressure has only intensified since Biden issued a surprise pardon for his son Hunter earlier this month, wiping away criminal convictions on tax and gun charges.
Advocacy groups have been calling for a swath of pardons, including for people on federal death row and with marijuana convictions.
Biden has previously issued blanket pardons for those convicted of minor marijuana-related crimes, but those didn’t make federal inmates eligible for release.
“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in the statement.
“As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for nonviolent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.”
