FAMM Responds to President Trump’s Clemency Announcement 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dr. Shaneva D. McReynolds, President of FAMM, released the following statement in response to President Trump’s commutation announcement today:

“We at FAMM commend the President’s use of clemency for those who have earned a second chance. We also thank White House Pardon Czar Alice Marie Johnson.”

FAMM has long championed the use of executive clemency to rectify excessive sentences. At least four of the individuals being released—Angela Reynolds, Angela Cupit, Andrew Routt, and Zechariah Benjamin—were each serving disproportionately long sentences. Clemency is a powerful tool to address past and current injustice and safely reduce our prison population. We are thrilled that these individuals will finally have the opportunity to return home to their families after such a long time. We encourage the administration to continue to consider the thousands of people who, through their demonstrated rehabilitation, are worthy candidates for consideration of clemency.”

About FAMM

FAMM’s mission is to create a more fair and effective justice system that respects our American values of individual accountability and dignity while keeping our communities safe. This mission not only reduces unnecessary suffering for incarcerated people, but also for their family members who have to serve the sentence along with their incarcerated loved one.

The organization is committed to nonpartisanship and embraces the value of racial, cultural, and political diversity in its advocacy. FAMM’s greatest asset has always been the stories of its members. By sharing the impact of unjust sentencing and prison policies on incarcerated individuals, their families, and their communities, FAMM has helped create urgency around the issue and made the problem feel real to policymakers who have to be moved to make meaningful change.

Among its many accomplishments, FAMM and its members have led the enactment of federal legislation to reform sentencing and prison policies, including the 1994 drug sentencing safety valve, the Fair Sentencing Act, the First Step Act of 2018, and 2024’s Federal Prison Oversight Act, as well as the repeal or reform of drug mandatory minimum sentences in multiple states, including Michigan, Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, and Iowa. It has also led improvements to the federal sentencing guidelines, was a founding member of Clemency Project 2014, spearheaded a federal Compassionate Release Clearinghouse,and has led advocacy at the U.S. Supreme Court in major cases.

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The post FAMM Responds to President Trump’s Clemency Announcement  first appeared on Families Against Mandatory Minimums Foundation.