High-profile inmates serving life sentence for marijuana crimes were not given clemency by President Barack Obama on Thursday, leaving their families devastated after long public campaigns urging their freedom. John Knock, whose sister Beth Curtis has lobbied for the release of nonviolent marijuana convicts, learned Wednesday that his application had been denied. Knock was arrested in 1996 and convicted in 2000 of participating in an international pot-smuggling operation. “It’s an incredibly painful disappointment that my brother – a wonderful person who is totally nonviolent – is going to die in prison,” Curtis says, holding back tears.