CAN-DO’s Amy Ralston Povah was interviewed for the “Pardon Me” episode on Reveal and connected the producer with one of our favorite clemency applicants – Charles Tanner. Listen to “Pardon Me” here.

We start by meeting Charles “Duke” Tanner, a former boxer who is serving 30 years in federal prison after being convicted of drug trafficking. His arrest came during the war on drugs, which started in the 1980s, putting tens of thousands of black men in prison for decades. Tanner has applied for clemency twice, but his application is languishing among 13,000 others at the federal Office of the Pardon Attorney. 

Next, we take a look at why the mechanism for granting pardons has broken down. We meet a pardons advocate (Amy Ralston Povah) and a former staff member (Sam Morison) of the pardon attorney’s office …