Biden Faces Pressure to Grant Clemency to Aging Inmates Before Term Ends

Thousands of federal inmates, including a 78-year-old Vietnam veteran, seek clemency as the President's term nears its conclusion.

Michael Montalvo, who has served 37 years for leading a cocaine enterprise, is among over 7,000 inmates requesting clemency from President Biden.
Montalvo, 78, earned a law degree in prison and assisted other inmates with compassionate release but is barred from seeking it for himself due to a legal technicality.
Inmates convicted before November 1987, like Montalvo, face harsher sentences under outdated laws that were not adjusted by the 2018 compassionate release amendment.
The Safer Detention Act, proposed in 2021 to address these sentencing disparities, failed to pass in Congress.
Since taking office, Biden has pardoned 25 people and commuted sentences for 131, but advocates urge more action before his term ends on January 20.