The following Press Release is from Faith in Action Criminal Justice Working Group and includes a quote from NRCAT's Executive Director, Rev. Ron Stief.

Religious leaders praise president’s clemency initiative for drug sentences
Faith in Action Criminal Justice Working Group applauds increased focus on remedying racially disparate consequences of 'War on Drugs'

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 23, 2014
Contact: Wayne Rhodes, Director of Communications
General Board of Church & Society
The United Methodist Church
(202) 488-5630 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Faith-based organizations praised U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) officials’ announcements this week to expedite a clemency process for persons serving excessive sentences for low-level and non-violent offenses in federal prison.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement that DOJ would be prepared to consider thousands of applications to President Obama for a commutation (reduction in sentence or immediate release).

The review would be an unprecedented undertaking for this class of prisoner, according to the Faith in Action Criminal Justice Reform Working Group, an interfaith coalition of 35 religious organizations. The coalition said such a review could significantly reduce unnecessarily long prison sentences meted out under nearly 30-year-old mandatory-minimum sentences for drug crimes.

The working group, convened by the General Board of Church & Society of The United Methodist Church, seeks a more just and humane criminal-justice system that prioritizes restorative justice instead of overly punitive prison sentences.

The working group wrote to President Obama last year urging him to more robustly use his authority to grant clemency.

Praise for clemency initiative

Working group members, including the National Council of Churches (USA), Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Social Action Commission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, applauded President Obama’s increased focus on remedying the racially disparate consequences of the “War on Drugs.”

Comments from members of the working group follow:

The Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, chief executive of the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society, called presidential acts of mercy “essential to lessen the human suffering” endured by thousands serving excessive sentences in federal prison.

"President Obama's clemency initiative is a bold and ethical step towards righting the wrongs of unjust sentencing policies and practices in the United States,” said Dr. Iva E. Carruthers, general secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference.

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, applauded the president's clemency initiative. “Along with proposals like the Smarter Sentencing Act, [it] advances the vision of a more just society,” he said, adding that punishment should “fit the crime, be free from racial bias and be rehabilitative."

Mass incarceration must stop, declared the Rev. Carlos L. Malavé, executive director of Christian Churches Together. “We are challenging ourselves together with government and the nation to seize this moment when multiple forces are aligning toward positive action to correct the injustices within our ‘justice’ system,” he said.

Most welcome

The clemency initiative is most welcome, according to Jim Winkler, president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches, USA. “I pray that President Obama will take action to commute the sentences of those serving long and harsh years in our prisons,” he said.

The Rt. Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, chair of the Social Action Commission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, said the clemency initiative is “terrific news.” He said, “The disparity in sentencing between minorities and whites because of drugs has made a mockery of our sentencing standards.”

This action offers a “ray of hope,” according to Sandy Sorensen, director, United Church of Christ, Justice & Witness Ministries Washington Office. “The president’s action calls attention to our failed criminal justice system,” she said, “which has filled our prisons to overcrowding and, in the end, does not serve our communities.”

Diane Randall, executive secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, commended the president. “We look for the day when our country invests more in prevention and treatment than in the useless and destructive expense of prison time,” she said.

Common goals of faith traditions

“This initiative, much like the Smarter Sentencing Act now under consideration in Congress, advances the common goals of our diverse faith traditions of increasing access to restoration and human dignity,” said the Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. He pointed out that with half of the federal prison population incarcerated for drug offenses, and dramatic racial disparity, justice has been deferred for thousands sentenced to overly punitive mandatory-minimum sentences.

Ford Rowan, director of Human Rights Ministries for the Disciples Justice Action Network, said the clemency initiative is long overdue. "In my 15 years as a volunteer in prisons in five states,” he said, “I've met hundreds of inmates who were convicted of drug offenses but who pose little or no risk to society.”

“We have confirmed through our work in jails and prisons throughout the U.S. that punishment and mass incarceration are not the answer to increasing public safety,” said the Rev. Susan Taylor, National Public Affairs director of the Church of Scientology.

The General Board of Church & Society is one of four international general program boards of The United Methodist Church. Prime responsibility of the board is to seek implementation of the United Methodist Social Principles and other policy statements on Christian social concerns of the General Conference, the denomination’s highest policy-making body.

For more information, on the new U.S. Dept. of Justice clemency initiative, mass incarceration or the Smarter Sentencing Act, contact Kara Gotsch, director of advocacy, Faith in Action Criminal Justice Reform Working Group, (202) 488-5628 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

More in-depth comments by the faith leaders are available online at Religious leaders praise clemency initiative.