Clinton Commutes Sentences Of Two Black Women Inmates; Grants Clemency To 62 In All

In a gesture reflective of the goodwill and generosity of this past holiday season, President Clinton recently granted clemency to 62 people, among them two Black women who were serving long prison terms under federal drug sentencing guidelines.

Clinton commuted the sentences of Kemba Smith, 28, of Richmond, VA, and Dorothy Gaines, 42, of Mobile, AL, to time served, allowing them to be freed in time to celebrate the Christmas holiday season with their families.

Smith was sentenced in 1995 to 24 years and six months in prison with no chance of parole for helping her boyfriend Peter Hall, head of a violent drug ring. Gaines received 19 years, seven months in 1995 for her low-level role in a local drug ring. The men who ran the ring received more lenient sentences for their offenses.

"President Clinton has shown mercy and integrity by releasing these individuals," said Julie Stewart, president and founder of Families Against Mandatory Minimums Foundation (FAMM).

"They are not the drug `kingpins' Congress intended to target when it passed these laws in 1986 and 1988. They are all low-level drug offenders who deserved punishment for breaking the law, but received disproportionately harsh sentences for their tangential involvement in the drug trade."

Clinton also commuted the sentence of a third prisoner, former Missouri House Speaker Bob F. Griffin, who was serving time for bribery and mail fraud, and issued pardons for 59 others, most notably ex-Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL), one-time chair of the Ways and Means Committee.

Clinton, at JET press time, said that he expects to issue another round of presidential pardons before he leaves office Jan. 20. Clinton previously had granted 196 pardons and 22 commutations.

A commutation reduces a criminal penalty, such as shortening a prison term. A pardon releases a person from the punishment of a crime.