Alice Johnson is woman enough to take responsibility for her actions.
“The real Miss Alice is a woman that has made a mistake,” says the incarcerated 63-year-old great-grandmother, in a video filmed for news site Mic; a video that was to alter the course of her life. Why? Because it was seen by a certain high-profile woman named Kim Kardashian West, who decided to become her advocate.
Kardashian West met with President Donald Trump last week to discuss the case, and overnight, Johnson was granted clemency for her first-time nonviolent drug offence – meaning that her life sentence without parole will be commuted.
In an exclusive interview with Mic , Kardashian West said Trump, “really spent the time to listen to our case that we were making for Alice. He really understood, and I am very hopeful that this will turn out really positively.”
In response to her initial viewing of the video, Kardashian West said, “If you think about a decision that you’ve made in your life and you get life without the possibility of parole for your first-time nonviolent offence, there’s just something so wrong with that.”
Kardashian West tweeted the video, and engaged her personal lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley to provide legal support for Johnson’s clemency petition. She then worked with Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner to address the case, which is what eventually afforded the social media mogul an audience with the President.
Johnson will be released from prison after more than 21 years behind bars. She was convicted for her role facilitating communications in a cocaine trafficking operation in Memphis, Tennessee.
As Johnson explains in the Mic video, she had been in management for 10 years when she lost her job. The mother struggled to support her family and couldn’t find employment fast enough. In desperation, she became involved in a ‘drug conspiracy’. It was a decision she has regretted ever since, saying that she has missed so much of life – both of her parents died and she never got to say her goodbyes, and she also missed the birth of all her grandchildren.
During her time of incarceration, Johnson has become a playwright and a minister.
She is one of 3278 prisoners serving life without parole for a nonviolent offence. Sixty-five percent of them are black. For these reasons, Kardashian West told Mic she intends to become more involved in prison reform issues, and that Johnson’s release represents the first of what she hopes will be many victories.
“I think it’s definitely a bigger issue that has to be addressed, and I’m glad that I’m starting with her,” Kardashian West said. This means that there may be more meetings between Trump and the mother-of-two – now a civil rights advocate – in the near future.
Clemency can only be granted by the President. Part of the criteria for clemency is 100 per cent clear conduct, with no significant criminal history. As Johnson explains, she had support from the guards, members of Congress, and the public.
But it took a Kardashian for her to get the attention of the President.