Whitefish man among 214 federal inmates to have sentence commuted

A Whitefish man serving a life sentence for a non-violent drug crime is one of 214 federal prisoners who will have their sentences commuted by President Barack Obama.

Douglas George Jensen was sentenced in 2004 to life in prison with 10 years supervised release for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. His sentence was commuted to expire on Aug. 3, 2018. Jensen’s release is conditioned upon his enrollment in residential drug treatment.

A Whitefish police officer stopped Jensen in February 2003 while responding to reports of reckless driving and speeding. Jensen was arrested on a warrant based on knowledge of his drug trafficking and past drug felonies, court documents show. He had 1.67 pounds of meth, worth about $75,000, packaged and attached to the bottom of his station wagon and covered with cayenne pepper to throw off K-9 drug-sniffing dogs, the Billings Gazette reported in 2003.

According to a White House press statement, the commutations embody Obama’s idea that “America is a nation of second chances” and were given to individuals who were “incarcerated under outdated and unduly harsh sentencing laws.”

The commutations bring Obama’s total number of sentences shortened to 562, more than the previous nine presidents, according to the White House. Of those, 197 individuals were serving life sentences.