feeling rebloggy
A grandmother whose life sentence was commuted by President Trump on Wednesday was released from an Alabama prison the same night, her lawyer said. Alice Marie Johnson, 63, reunited with her family in dramatic video captured by CBS News. She was behind bars for 21 years.
Johnson's case was championed last week by reality TV personality Kim Kardashian West, who met with Mr. Trump at the White House about sentencing and prison reform.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alice-marie-johnson-released-reunites-family-twitter-video-today-2018-06-06/
ALICE'S STORY
Things went downhill for Johnson in 1989, when she and her husband divorced. The following year, she lost her job of 10 years at the FedEx Corporation due to a gambling addiction. With no way to pay her bills, Johnson filed for bankruptcy in 1991 and her house was foreclosed on. In a moment of tragedy for the entire family, Johnson's youngest son, Cory, was killed in a scooter accident in 1992.
Alice Marie Johnson with her children and grandchildren. Image courtesy of the ACLU.
Having hit rock bottom, Johnson began to associate with people who were involved with drug dealing. She became wrapped up in a lucrative operation that transported cocaine to Memphis, Tennessee for distribution. In 1993, she was arrested and accused, along with 15 others, on various drug and money laundering charges.
At trial, prosecutors convinced 10 of her co-conspirators to testify against her in exchange for reduced or, in some cases, dropped charges. Johnson admits she acted as a go-between, relaying coded messages like "everything is straight" by telephone, but says that she never personally made drug deals or sold drugs...
~MIC.COM
I'd love to know more about her story, whether she applied for welfare or if it just wasn't enough, for example.
I'm glad she's out. But she's not nearly alone as far as being in prison for life for a nonviolent offense.
Source: https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/aclu-gotlife_atlantic.pdf
Prison Reform needs to be more of a hot button issue. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that I've heard of prosecutors handing out deals to get their conviction rate up without keeping an eye toward justice. It would be interesting to see how many drug dealers who actually shot people over turf were set free for pointing the finger at Johnson.
She was in prison for 21 years. She did her time. "I not allow this time to do me." She made sure she had a positive impact on the people she came into contact with.
I can tell, we're going to hear from her again. I think we're going to be reading a biography someday soon.
I can tell, we're going to hear from her again. I think we're going to be reading a biography someday soon.
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