Biden issues first pardons and prison commutations of presidency

WASHINGTON — President Biden on Tuesday issued three pardons and 75 prison sentence commutations in his first grants of clemency since taking office.

All of the commutations and two of the three pardons went to people convicted of federal drug offenses.

“Today, I am pardoning three people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities,” Biden said in a statement.

“I am also commuting the sentences of 75 people who are serving long sentences for non-violent drug offenses, many of whom have been serving on home confinement during the COVID-pandemic — and many of whom would have received a lower sentence if they were charged with the same offense today, thanks to the bipartisan First Step Act.”

Biden pardoned former Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden, 87, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 1964 for bribery. He was the first black man assigned to a presidential protective detail.

Biden also pardoned Houston resident Betty Jo Bogans, 51, who received a seven-year prison sentence in 1998 for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, and Georgia resident Dexter Jackson, 52, who pleaded guilty in 2002 to allowing pot dealers to use his property. Jackson runs a phone repair firm.

Fifty-eight of the 75 sentence commutations are set to take effect in 2023, with most of those recipients technically under house arrest until then.

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