Kim Kardashian West reportedly helps free 17 inmates in last 90 days
In the last three months, Kim Kardashian West has continued her pledge to fight for prison reform by helping to free 17 inmates from federal prison, the nonprofit law firm The Decarceration Collective confirmed to news outlets.
Kardashian West and a legal team worked to free the nonviolent drug offenders, who were serving lengthy sentences without parole, according to TMZ.
Brittany K. Barnett, Kardashian West's attorney and co-founder of the Buried Alive Project, and MiAngel Cody, lead counsel of the The Decarceration Collective, told CNN that Kardashian West has been “instrumental” in the release of the prisoners.
The Buried Alive Project and the The Decarceration Collective are “sister organizations” made up of a “small, but mighty team of women lawyers” working to bring change to the criminal justice system, according to a news release.
The reality star, makeup mogul and criminal justice reformer has quietly helped fund their “90 Days of Freedom Campaign.”
"Kim has been funding this project and (has been) a very important supporter of our 90 Days of Freedom campaign as part of the First Step Act, which President Trump signed into law last year," Cody told CNN. "We've been going around the country in courtrooms and asking judges to release these inmates."
Barnett told CNN, "(Kim) has provided financial support to cover legal fees so that we can travel the country. Our relationships with our clients don't end when they are freed. (Kim) is truly dedicated to the issue. I work personally with her, we are really grateful."
Cody added that Kardashian West has also helped with “critical things that people might not realize” when someone is released from prison, including transportation for newly freed inmates back to their families who might live hundreds of miles away.
“We celebrate the 17 lives we saved in just three short months,” a statement from the organizations reads. “However, our work is not done. There are so many more we hope to save.”
“We are thrilled that Kim Kardashian continues to lend her voice to this important, life-saving work,” the statement added.
Last year, Kardashian West lobbied the White House for clemency for Alice Marie Johnson, who served more than two decades of a life sentence without parole for non-violent offenses.
She decided to use her platform to promote criminal justice reform after hearing Johnson's story, Kardashian West said.
She worked with the President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and CNN commentator, activist and attorney Van Jones to push the bipartisan First Step Act. Trump commuted Johnson's sentence and signed the legislation that gives judges more discretion when sentencing some drug offenders and boosts prisoner rehabilitation efforts.
Kardashian West previously announced she's apprenticing with a San Francisco law firm, inspired by her successful effort to free Johnson. In four U.S. states, California included, an aspiring attorney doesn't need to attend law school to take the bar exam.
Kardashian West said she is working with Jones and attorney Jessica Jackson, co-founders of a criminal justice reform group called #cut50, to complete her studies, with the goal of taking the bar in 2022.
Oxygen Media announced this week it green-lit a two-hour documentary that will capture Kardashian West's efforts to free prisoners she believes were wrongly accused.
The project has the working title, "Kim Kardashian: The Justice Project."
This story was reported from Los Angeles. The Associated Press contributed