Why Kim Kardashian Quietly Freeing 17 More Federal Inmates Serving Life Sentences Matters
Kim Kardashian has already made a name for herself as a celebrity, and now she can use that name to draw attention to important legal matters, too.
She's not just all about the Met Gala.
First, she freed Alice Marie Johnson — a nonviolent drug offender serving a life sentence — from prison. Since then, Kim Kardashian has quietly bankrolled a campaign to free 17 federal inmates serving life sentences for low-level drug crimes. Her successful attempt unfolded over the past three months, sources told the New York Post.
According to the report, “Brittany K. Barnett of the Buried Alive Project and MiAngel Cody of the Decarceration Collective secured the release of the prisoners as part of a campaign called 90 Days of Freedom.” Among those freed include Terrence Byrd, convicted in 1995 of possession with intent to sell less than a kilo of crack cocaine, who was 26 when he was locked up. He is now reunited with his family.
Criminal justice reform has become Kim’s most important work, and she’s even been studying to become a lawyer in California to help her do more. (She's planning to take the bar exam in 2022.)
It's hard to criticize the KUWTK star's efforts here. Sure, she's not the only person helping, but having someone with her celebrity status bring awareness (and funding) to these cases can often help things happen (and cases get heard) quicker or more easily than if the spotlight shined on them a little less brightly.
Even Van Jones praised her decision on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on April 25. He first met Kim at the White House in 2018 and says he now speaks to her a "couple times a week."
"I think like a lot of people I had the [impression]; I still had her frozen in time, back in the Paris Hilton days. She's brilliant," he said. "She's incredibly persuasive and persistent and she eats law books for breakfast. She cares a lot about criminal justice; she's spent a lot of time going to visit women in prison. I think people thought it was some kind of publicity stunt a year ago... She's the only celebrity I know — usually, I'm calling celebrities asking them to help me on cases; she calls me asking me to help her on cases."
That's surely someone using her name and money for good. Go, Kim!
