Kevin Johnson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Thousands of federal offenders could become eligible for clemency consideration by President Obama under new guidelines set to be released later this week by the Justice Department.

Attorney General Eric Holder, in a video message posted Monday on the Justice website, said the expanded program will allow the president to consider clemency requests from "a larger field of eligible individuals.''

The Justice Department's action comes less than a week after the White House asked the department to revamp the rules for the solicitation of additional commutation and pardon requests.

"Once these reforms go into effect, we expect to receive thousands of additional applications for clemency,'' Holder said, adding that "potentially dozens of (department) lawyers'' would be assigned to review the anticipated wave of requests.

The effort is part of a larger strategy to reduce the bloated federal prison population and reverse past sentencing policies that doomed many offenders, including thousands of non-violent drug offenders, to disproportionately long terms.

In January, Deputy Attorney General James Cole appealed to state bar associations to help identify low-level, non-violent drug offenders who could be candidates for grants of clemency.

"As a society, we pay much too high a price whenever our system fails to deliver the just outcomes necessary to deter and punish crime, to keep us safe, and to ensure that those who have paid their debts have a chance to become productive citizens,'' Holder said.

Advocates for sentencing policy changes involving drug offenders expressed support for Holder's proposal.

"This would be a positive step toward righting the wrongs of our broken criminal justice system,'' Drug Policy Alliance spokesman Anthony Papa said. "With half a million people still behind bars on non-violent drug charges, clearly thousands are deserving of a second chance. Congress should act immediately to reduce the draconian federal mandatory minimum sentences that condemn thousands to decades behind bars for non-violent drug offenses.''

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said he was "encouraged'' by the proposed expansion of clemency consideration.

"After years of advocating on behalf of Americans who are unfairly incarcerated, the policies that I've encouraged the president and the attorney general to adopt are now being implemented,'' Cohen said. "I am very encouraged by the prospect that these new clemency criteria will give deserving non-violent drug offenders a second chance at freedom, improve our justice system and save taxpayers money.''

The National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, which represents more than 5,000 federal prosecutors, has announced its opposition to scaling back mandatory minimum sentencing policy. But the group has not expressed opposition to the administration's clemency proposals.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the number of commutations granted "will depend entirely on the number of worthy candidates.''

"And in terms of how many deserving candidates are out there, I couldn't begin to speculate,'' he said. "But there's a process in place that reflects the president's belief that everyone should have a fair shot under the system for consideration.''

Contributing: David Jackson