WASHINGTON >> President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes in a sweeping act of clemency during his final weeks in office.

Three Minnesotans were among the pardon recipients.

The commutations — the largest number by a president in a single day, the White House said — affect those who had been released from prison and placed in home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic. The pardons went to people convicted of nonviolent crimes, including drug offenses.

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. He said the clemency represented his commitment to “help reunite families, strengthen communities and reintegrate individuals back into society.”

A pardon wipes out a conviction, while a commutation leaves the guilty verdict intact but reduces some or all of the punishment.

Biden’s action was one of the biggest grants of clemency in modern American history. President Jimmy Carter, on his first full day in office in 1977, issued a pardon that affected more people, for men who evaded the Vietnam War draft. But that was what is known as a categorical pardon; Biden’s commutations are for individual cases.

The announcement came two weeks after Biden issued a pardon for his son Hunter, who had been convicted of gun possession and pleaded guilty to income tax evasion. That decision was harshly criticized by both Republicans and Democrats because the president had long ruled out clemency for his son.

Crime bill regret

Biden has come under increasing pressure to use his clemency powers before he hands over power to President-elect Donald Trump. As a senator, Biden had championed a 1994 crime bill that many experts say fueled mass incarceration. He has since expressed regret for his support of the legislation, and he committed during the 2020 campaign to addressing the long drug sentences that resulted.

Some congressional Democrats and others have also called on Biden to reduce the sentences of all 40 people on federal death row to life without parole. Trump supports the death penalty and restarted federal executions after a nearly 20-year pause during his first term.

The fate of those who were moved to home confinement during the pandemic, when COVID was spreading rapidly through jails and prisons, has been of particular concern to activists in recent weeks. Some Republicans, who are set to take control of Congress next month, have tried to push legislation that would have forced them to return to prison.

The pardon recipients include multiple people who were convicted of drug crimes as young adults only to serve in the military and go on to support families of slain U.S. troops, help charities or train local firefighters. The Justice Department’s pardon attorney reviewed each of those cases before recommending them to White House lawyers, who then presented them to Biden.

The recipients cleared the bar for commutation if they exhibited good behavior during their time in home confinement. Those who committed additional crimes or were confined to sober-living facilities were not included in this round of commutations, the White House official said, although he added that Biden’s team was still reviewing cases of people living in halfway houses.

In his statement Thursday, Biden said that many of those people would have received lower sentences if they had been charged under current laws. They had also been serving their sentences at home for at least a year, according to the White House.

“These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the COVID pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance,” Biden said.

Minnesotans on the list

• Kelsie Lynn Becklin, 38, of Falcon Heights, pleaded guilty to a nonviolent offense at age 21. Becklin served her sentence, recently completed a Ph.D. program and mentors previously incarcerated individuals who also want to pursue higher education.

• Sarah Jean Carlson, 49, of Coon Rapids, pleaded guilty to a nonviolent offense. She was granted a shortened probationary sentence and has furthered her education while working in addiction counseling at a faith-based rehabilitation center.

• Lashawn Marrvinia Walker, 51, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to nonviolent drug offenses in her 20s. She was granted a shortened probationary sentence and has worked in the health care field, is an engaged parent and regularly assists others in her community, including during the holidays when she helps serve dinner at a retirement home.

Trump’s ‘enemies’ list

Biden said he would take more steps in the weeks ahead and continue to review clemency petitions. His staff has been debating whether he should issue blanket pardons for a number of Trump’s perceived enemies to protect them from the “retribution” Trump has threatened, people familiar with the discussion have said. The idea would be to preemptively extend executive clemency to a list of current and former government officials, effectively short-circuiting the next president’s promised campaign of reprisals.

Pioneer Press staff reports were used in this story.