Politics
Silk Road Drug Market Operator Pardoned By Trump Calls For More Prisoners To Be Freed, As Democrats Criticize His Clemency
Ross Ulbricht—who was serving a life sentence over a conviction for running a dark web illicit drug market before being pardoned by President Donald Trump—says more clemency is needed, arguing that more than half of the inmates he met while incarcerated “have no business being in those cages for decades.”
At the same time, Trump is facing criticism from Democratic lawmakers over his various pardons, and they’re notably scrutinizing Ulbricht’s drug-related clemency in particular despite the party’s history of generally advocating for drug policy reform.
During a speech at a FreedomFest event last week, Ulbricht thanked supporters and the president for helping facilitate his release, getting tearful as he recounted the anxiety he felt after his potential clemency was first rumored and feeling his fate depended on an uncertain election outcome.
Despite that gratitude, however, he said he feels more needs to be done.
“I know the men that are in there. I can safely say—I was in there for over 11 years, I met lots and lots of people—and I can safely say that the majority of, more than half easily, at least, have no business being in those cages for decades. Those cages that dot our country like some kind of disease,” he said.
“They’re decent men. They’re not a imminent threat to anybody. They can be safely released, just like I was. And those who can’t, they’re in there,” Ulbricht said. “There are some in there that are danger. If we are to be a truly free country, we must treat even them, the least among us, with dignity and respect. None of us are free until we are all free, because as long as a system like this exists, it is a threat to freedom everywhere.”
Trump’s pardon was something of a surprise, as he made repeated pledges on the campaign trail to take extreme, punitive actions—including capital punishment—against people who sell drugs. The president had previewed plans to take the action in May 2024, but it came a day later than his initial commitment to release Ulbricht “on day one” of his presidency.
“I keep getting the advice to move on with my life—to put the past behind me, stop thinking about prison and forget what happened. I can’t do that,” Ulbricht said in his speech. “I can’t forget where I’ve been—can’t forget what I’ve seen. I can’t forget the men that are still in there. Prisoners are the least among us. They are the bottom rung of society. How we treat them reveals who we are as a nation [and] as people.”
“I’m here to tell you that if you care about freedom and liberty, then you must care about what goes on inside those cages. It’s true. It just is. That’s where people are stripped of their freedom. That’s where liberty is lost. I’ve been through the belly of that beast and come out the other side. I’ve seen the oppression and dehumanization firsthand. I’ve lived it.”
Calls for prison, sentencing and drug reform are common among Democratic lawmakers. But in this case, there’s evidently a relative lack of sympathy in Ulbricht’s pardon case among some members.
In a memorandum from staff for the Democratic minority of the House Judiciary Committee that was distributed to lawmakers on Tuesday, the panel detailed complaints with the president’s multiple controversial clemency actions, which also includes many involved in the January 6 insurrection.
The focus of the memo is on the financial cost of pardoning people in terms of lost restitution and fines after an incarcerated person is given the presidential forgiveness. The committee’s staff “estimates that President Trump’s pardons could deprive the pardoned offenders’ victims (and other survivors) of approximately $1.3 billion in restitution and fines owed to them and American taxpayers,” it says.
But it also makes a pointed criticism of Ulbricht’s clemency.
“The pardoned criminal plutocrats include people like Ross Ulbricht who operated a major underground online black market which drug dealers used to deal hundreds of pounds of illicit drugs into both American and foreign communities,” it says, using sharp language that departs from how progressives tend to discuss drug criminalization issues.
“He was sentenced to life in prison before being pardoned by President Trump,” it says. “Despite the numerous people harmed by Mr. Ulbricht’s breathtaking crimes facilitating traffic in narcotics and opioids, President Trump on January 21 explicitly relieved him of the forfeiture and fines he was ordered to pay, which totaled an astonishing $184 million.”
Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison for operating the dark web market known as the Silk Road from 2011 to 2013.
The pardon also represents a political departure for Trump, who in 2023 defended his position that people who sell illicit drugs should be quickly convicted and executed, touting countries like China and Singapore for enforcing the lethal penalty against drug offenders. Trump said that capital punishment “is the only way you’re going to stop” addiction.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.
