Governor Gavin Newsom released an open letter on November 5, 2026, announcing that he plans to exercise California's clemency authority to commute all 548 death sentences in the state to life without the possibility of parole. The letter says California has not executed anyone since 2006, and that his March 13, 2019, moratorium stopped executions while leaving the sentences in place. Reporting from JURIST, AP, BBC, and USA Today describes the same figure of 548 people. JURIST reported that 382 of those cases will still need a recommendation from the California Supreme Court under Article V, Section 8 of the state constitution, because the person has at least two felony convictions. The action does not repeal California's death-penalty law, and it does not make those people eligible for parole.
I am not writing to argue for or against that decision. I am writing for people who will never appear in a governor's mass grant and still need a plan. In the federal system, a commutation is a presidential reduction of a sentence that is still being served. Only the President can grant it. Most people who seek one will file a petition with the Office of the Pardon Attorney, wait, and keep documenting the work they control.
Separate Headlines From Your Own File
Mass clemency makes national news because it is rare and concentrated. A person serving a federal sentence usually faces a quieter process: a form, a case file, and a discretionary decision that no court can force. During my 26 years in federal prison, I filed commutation petitions under President Clinton, President Bush, and President Obama. Those presidents did not grant my petitions. I still had a right to apply, and I still had a duty to myself to keep building a record.
That distinction matters. A headline can change what the public debates. It cannot replace the dated journals, program records, work history, restitution steps, and support letters that a reviewer may one day read. Waiting for a political moment to create your file leaves you with a blank page when a form asks for specifics.
Learn What a Federal Commutation Petition Asks
The Department of Justice keeps the current Petition for Commutation of Sentence on the Pardon Attorney's Apply for Clemency page. Use that form until a newer one is posted. Federal regulations still expect a formal petition addressed to the President and submitted through that office. A knowingly false statement on a petition can violate 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
On November 2, 2026, the Department submitted a proposed revision of that petition to the Office of Management and Budget as ICR 202611-1123-001. As of November 4, OMB listed the filing as "Received in OIRA" and did not list an approval. The public description says the changes are minimal and would collect one additional piece of information about an applicant's support system. The revision is not in force until OMB approves it and the Pardon Attorney posts a new form. Until then, the current petition remains the one to use.
Even without new wording, every serious petition still rests on people: who will house you, who will employ or mentor you, who has watched your conduct, and who can confirm your plans with more than a vague promise. Our articles on clemency and pardons, executive clemency, and building a pathway to clemency explain how a pardon differs from a commutation and why rehabilitation must show up as evidence, not slogans.
Document Your Support System Before Anyone Asks
A support system is not a list of famous names. It is a set of specific relationships and arrangements that can be verified: a place to live, transportation, medical care if needed, a job lead or training path, mentors who will stay involved, and family or community members who know what you actually do day to day.
I treat that work the way a builder treats a job log. The log does not finish the house. When questions arrive later, the person who kept the log can answer with dates instead of reconstructions from memory. Families who want to help can write from direct observation—what they saw, for how long, and what they are prepared to do after release—rather than from generic praise.
Start with steps you can take this week:
- List the people who know your conduct well enough to describe it in writing.
- Note housing, work, and accountability arrangements that already exist, and mark which ones are only hopes.
- Gather documents that show programs, work assignments, education, restitution, and service with dates.
- Ask your case manager which form and packet the institution currently uses for commutation petitions.
- Keep a journal that compares the goals you set with the work you finished.
Each delay carries an opportunity cost. An hour spent arguing about the news cannot also go toward a letter request, a housing confirmation, or a page that shows progress over time.
Build a Record the Prison Professors Way
A Prison Professors profile gives you a place to document goals, accountability, programs, work, service, and release preparation in your own words. Our lesson on writing a release plan shows how to lay out housing, employment, support, and contingencies in a form that other people can review. A profile cannot guarantee a presidential grant, a BOP decision, or any other discretionary outcome. It can give you a clearer factual record to bring to a lawyer, a case manager, or, when the time comes, a clemency file.
Clemency remains rare. The President is under no obligation to act. Preparing anyway still changes what you can show about your use of time. People who wait for perfect political conditions often discover that the form arrived before their evidence did.
Write Your Own Answer
Consider this question: if a reviewer asked tomorrow who will support your first 90 days after a sentence reduction, which names, addresses, and commitments could you document now, and which ones still need a conversation, a letter, or a written plan?
Write your answer in a journal. Then take one step: contact one person who can confirm housing, work, or mentoring, and ask that person to put the commitment in writing with enough detail that a stranger could understand it. You decide what record to build. When you are ready, our Profiles course shows how to start a free profile and begin documenting your preparation.
Prison Professors used AI tools to help draft this article. Our team reviewed and edited it for accuracy before publication. It is educational information, not legal advice.
Sources
- Governor of California: Governor Newsom releases letter to California on the death penalty (Nov. 5, 2026)
- Governor Newsom's open letter PDF (Nov. 5, 2026)
- AP News: California Gov. Newsom says he will commute all death sentences in state to life without parole
- BBC: California Governor Gavin Newsom commutes sentences for state's 548 death row inmates
- Clemency.com: Commutation Petition Revision Reached OMB on Nov. 2
- OMB/Reginfo: ICR 202611-1123-001, Petition for Commutation of Sentence
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney: Apply for Clemency