'No justice in destroying lives': Pressley, Bush call on Biden to grant clemency to 100 women in 100 days

WASHINGTON – Democratic Reps. Cori Bush, of Missouri, and Ayanna Pressley, of Massachusetts, added their voices to an initiative that calls on President Joe Biden to grant 100 women clemency in his first 100 days.

The National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls assembled 100 women Friday in Washington's Black Lives Matter Plaza to represent those for whom the organization wants clemency granted.

Speaking at the event, Pressley, noting the location as just outside the White House, said that "intersection of policy and Black liberation is more than symbolic. It is an intentional decision to follow the lead of our foremothers. To speak to truth to power."

"To tell President Biden to exercise his clemency authority," Pressley said, adding he can grant clemency to the 100 women "by the stroke of a pen."

More: Minneapolis reaches $27M settlement with George Floyd’s family in wrongful death lawsuit

"When this country incarcerates Black women, their entire family suffers," Pressley continued, saying this causes intergenerational trauma and hurts communities.

Bush, a firebrand progressive freshman congresswoman, said that "every mother that is arrested" and every "unfair arrest" maintains a "locked-in cycle of trauma that will continue for another generation." She noted the thousands of children who are separated from their families by the criminal justice system.

In his criminal justice plan, Biden pledged to help end mass incarceration in the United States — which imprisons more people than any other country in the world — by cutting America's prison rates and using his power to grant clemency.

"President Obama used his clemency power more than any of the 10 prior presidents. Biden will continue this tradition and broadly use his clemency power for certain non-violent and drug crimes," the plan reads.

Danielle Metz, clemency coordinator at the council who was granted clemency under former Obama, also spoke at the event.

'Independence from this virus': President Biden shifts from 'darkest days' to hope on the horizon

At just over 50 days in office, Biden has not granted clemency to anyone thus far. Clemency is when a president grants a defendant a pardon or reduces their sentence.

In a statement, the National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls said: "The prison experience increases trauma in women and, if they are mothers, to the children they are separated from. It deepens poverty in the individual lives of incarcerated people and the overall economic stability of their communities. We believe that the current criminal legal system has failed and needs to be dismantled."

On Wednesday, Pressley reintroduced The People’s Justice Guarantee, which aims to beat mass incarceration while working to make the criminal legal system more equitable. It was introduced in 2019 and is being brought forth again now that the House is passing other criminal justice and police reform legislation.

'We must act now': House passes police reform bill named for George Floyd

One measure the legislation includes is fighting against harsh and discriminatory discipline practices that force Black girls out of school, and into the legal system. Both congresswomen addressed this issue Friday, with Bush saying the U.S. is a "society of cycles, of violence, of poverty, of trauma."

USA TODAY has reached out to the White House for comment.

Above all else, Pressley said, the 100 women "are human beings deserving of dignity, and respect, and they deserve to be loved."

"There is no justice in destroying lives," Pressley said.

Danielle Metz, Clemency Coordinator at the National Council who was granted clemency under former President Barack Obama, also spoke at the event.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush want clemency for 100 women in 100 days