Obama Commutes Sentences of Eight Inmates Listen Download Embed Share Share this on Facebook (Opens in a new window) Share this on Twitter (Opens in a new window) Share this via Email Barack Obama, then a U.S. senator for Illinois, looks out of the window of Nelson Mandela's jail cell on August 20, 2006, on Robben Island, about six kilometres from the city, in Table Bay. ( RODGER BOSCH/AFP / Getty ) Produced by PRI and WNYC