For Immediate Release: 

April 26, 2022 

Contact: media@colorofchange.org 

COLOR OF CHANGE: PRESIDENT BIDEN MUST CONTINUE EXERCISING CLEMENCY POWERS AND HELP END RACIALIZED MASS INCARCERATION

Scott Roberts, senior director of criminal justice and democracy campaigns at Color Of Change issued this statement following President Biden’s announcement to commute the sentences of 78 incarcerated people:  

“Today, following repeated demands from Color Of Change, justice advocates, incarcerated people, and members of Congress, President Biden took the long-awaited step of commuting or pardoning the sentences of 78 incarcerated people. While we are pleased that these people will finally be reconnected with their loved ones, this action should be the start of President Biden’s initiative to dramatically reduce the prison population — not the end. We urge the President to continue exercising his executive authority and uphold his campaign promise to end racialized mass incarceration. 

Right now, President Biden has an opportunity to make a significant change to the prison population by granting clemency to the over 4,000 people released on home confinement under the CARES Act. Everyone released on home confinement was already heavily vetted by the Bureau of Prisons and many suffer from health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to COVID-19 outbreaks inside prisons. Furthermore, home confinement is an extension of a cruel and inhumane criminal legal system that continually threatens to rip people apart from their homes and loved ones if they violate draconian restrictions. 

Granting clemency more broadly can serve as redress for the harmful policies President Biden backed in the past. Those in home confinement have already proved that people will always be safer and have a better chance to thrive at home in community instead of in a cage. Granting clemency today to the over 4,000 people safely and successfully in home confinement is another important — and necessary — step forward for racial justice.” 

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Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by over 7 million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Visit www.colorofchange.org