Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old grandmother serving a life sentence in prison for nonviolent drug offenses she committed in the 1990s, will finally be free.
President Donald Trump commuted Johnson’s sentence on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement. The move came one week after Trump met with the reality-TV star Kim Kardashian West, who has for months been championing Johnson’s release.
“Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades. Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates,” the White House statement said. “While this Administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance.”
Kardashian West and her attorney Shawn Holley won a highly sought-after meeting with Trump after weeks of negotiations with Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, Business Insider previously reported. The talks came shortly after Kardashian West’s husband, the rapper Kanye West, made waves in the media for declaring his fervent support for Trump.
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