Biden pardons 11 people, commutes sentences of five others, White House says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday pardoned 11 people and commuted the sentences of five others convicted of non-violent drug offenses, the White House said, the latest in a series of actions of that type.

“Many of these individuals received sentences that were disproportionately longer than they would have been under current law, policy and practice,” Biden said in a statement.

The United States houses less than 5% of the world's population but a fifth of its prisoners. Last year, the White House unveiled a plan to reduce “unnecessary” incarceration, support the rehabilitation of those in prison and help those released from prison reenter society more successfully.

The White House said one of the people Biden pardoned is Dr. Katrina Polk, 54, of Washington, who pleaded guilty to a nonviolent drug offense when she was 18 years old. Polk served his sentence, completed the terms of his supervised release and later earned a doctorate in public policy and administration.

Last December, Biden reduced the prison sentences of 11 people serving decades-long sentences for nonviolent drug charges and pardoned potentially thousands more for federal or marijuana possession offenses in Washington , D.C.

(Reporting by Paul Grant, editing by David Ljunggren)