WASHINGTON • President Barack Obama has issued his first commutation, ordering the release next month of an Alton woman who served 10 years of a 22-year prison sentence for cocaine distribution.

Obama commuted the 2001 prison sentence of Eugenia Marie Jennings, 34, of Alton. Jennings was sentenced to 22 years in prison for distributing cocaine. The president ordered her to be released next month, but kept intact her eight years of supervised release.

The commutation was announced Monday as he also pardoned five people convicted of charges ranging from intent to distribute marijuana to running an illegal gambling business. The actions mark Obama's third set of pardons. He pardoned eight people earlier this year, and issued nine pardons in December 2010.

Jennings was represented by three lawyers with the Washington law firm of Crowell & Moring. None of the three could be reached for comment Tuesday morning.

Jennings was diagnosed with cancer this year and has undergone chemotheraphy treatment. She is being housed in Fort Worth, Texas, in a medical facility within the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Jennings was sentenced in the Southern District of Illinois on Feb. 23, 2001. She was sentenced to 262 months in prison, a $1,750 fine and eight years of supervised release.

Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an advocacy group for prisoners and their relatives, says that Jennings' crime was selling 13.9 grams of crack cocaine to a confidential police informant. Jennings began selling small amounts of crack cocaine to support her three children, the group says. Both of the drug sales involved Jennings trading cocaine for clothing.

Molly Gill, commutations project director for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said Jennings' commutation is a rare event. During George Bush's eight years as president, he granted only 11.

"It's like lightning striking," Gill said.

Gill said Jennings benefitted from her "tenacious" legal team, help from heavy hitters such as Sen. Dick Durbin and the support of her family.

In 2009, Jennings' brother, Cedric Parker of Alton, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs. He told the committee that the disparity in sentencing between those who sell powder cocaine and those who sell crack cocaine wasn't fair.

"Had Eugenia been sentenced for powder cocaine instead of crack cocaine, even as a 'career offender,' her sentence would have been less than half the one she received for crack cocaine," he testified.

The terms of commutation spell out that Eugenia Jennings' prison sentence will expire on Dec. 21.

Jennings reportedly will be home in time to see her oldest daughter graduate from high school in East St. Louis, according to Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

Gill said Jennings was sentenced as a career criminal and, so, her case didn't benefit from sentencing guidelines changes. But Gill downplayed the amount of crack cocaine Jennings's conviction hinges on -- a little less than 14 grams, or about the weight of 14 sugar packets.

"This was not a kingpin," Gill says. "She was a low-level offender who has some serious addictions."

None of those pardoned Monday was well-known, as was the case with the president's previous orders. The cases date back to 1984, when Martin Kaprelian of Park Ridge, Ill., was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce, and other related charges.

Others who received pardons:

• Lesley Claywood Berry Jr. of Loretto, Ky., sentenced in 1988 to three years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana.

• Dennis George Bulin of Wesley Chapel, Fla., sentenced in 1987 to five years of probation and a $20,000 fine for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 pounds of marijuana.

• Ricky Dale Collett of Annville, Ky., sentenced in 2002 to one year of probation for aiding and abetting in the manufacture of 61 marijuana plants.

• Thomas Paul Ledford of Jonesborough, Tenn., sentenced in 1995 to one year of probation for conducting and directing an illegal gambling business.

Kim Bell of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.