© Yuri Gripas / Reuters
President Obama on Thursday continued his efforts to reduce the number of inmates incarcerated for victimless, drug-related crimes. “The vast majority of today’s grants were for individuals serving unduly harsh sentences for drug-related crimes under outdated sentencing laws,” White House counsel Neil Eggleston wrote in a press statement. “With today’s grants, the President has commuted 774 sentences, more than the previous 11 presidents combined. With a total of 590 commutations this year, President Obama has now commuted the sentences of more individuals in one year than in any other single year in our nation’s history,” the statement boasted. Obama previously commuted 111 sentences in late August, which, combined with a commutation of 224 sentences earlier that month, led to 325 total for August.