No, those aren’t words that I ever expected to write, either. But…
President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender, a week after Kim Kardashian West pleaded her case during an Oval Office meeting with Trump.
Johnson has already served 21 years of a life sentence after she was convicted on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine and attempted possession of cocaine, according to the nonprofit Can-Do, which advocates for clemency for non-violent drug offenders.
She is expected to be released from prison soon.
“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 said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
“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,” the statement added.
Kardashian West hailed the commutation, tweeting, “BEST NEWS EVER!!!!” and expressing gratitude to Trump and senior adviser Jared Kushner.
Hey, you know the old saying about a broken clock being right twice a day? Well, I’m not a fan of our current President, and am an even longer non-fan of the Kardashians, but I have to be fair and balanced. When someone does the right thing, they deserved to be praised (or at least acknowledged) for it. And this was the right thing to do. Ms Johnson was treated extremely unfairly by our Justice System (as thousands are, everyday), and so I’m extremely happy that President Trump corrected that. And if took Kim effin’ Kardashian to bring this to his attention, then so be it. Good for her to use her fame, as unworthy of it I believe she is, to good use.
And, as a reminder, Ms Johnson’s gross over-sentencing is just one more example of the many many ways in which our justice system is flawed. This is why I oppose the death penalty, because we can’t justify giving anyone that ultimate punishment unless we can guarantee that everyone in the system is treated fairly and competently.
In the meantime, I urge everyone to support such organizations as THE INNOCENCE PROJECT
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