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| Kim Kardashian photographed during a presentation of Tiffany in new York on October 9, 2018. The televisiting personality is putting its celebrity, and its money, at the service of a penal reform that alleviates the convictions of many prisoners. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) |
NEW YORK (AP) — Brittany K. Barnett and MiAngel Cody are two advocates for one purpose: to get the release of people with convictions who believe unjustly long while fighting for criminal reform.
And his campaign reached another unsuspected dimension when he received support from Kim Kardashian West.
Barnett works in Dallas with the project Buried Alive (Burried Alive Project) and Cody is one of the founders of the Collective of the release (The Decarceration Collective) of Chicago.
"I was always interested in how courts and judges consider the human dramas they have in front of themselves, which is what makes me question the mandatory minimum sentences. Because when you have mandatory minimum sentences, the judges cannot take into account the individual stories "of the people," Cody told the Associated Press.
Barnett's organization does a similar job, representing individuals who want a second chance, educating people about the need for legislative reform and advertising cases to humanize the condemned and try to make disappear the Stigma associated with jail.
Kardashian, who studies right while managing her cosmetics business and reality TV show, learned of Barnett's work when she saw an interview with Alice Marie Johnson from prison. He looked for that grandmother's lawyers and that's how he met Barnett.
President Donald Trump commuted the mandatory life sentence imposed on Johnson for selling cocaine after he received Kardashian at the White House. Trump stamped his signature on a bipartisan criminal reform approved at the end of last year. After that, Barnett and Cody joined forces and launched a campaign to get the release of as many people as possible under the new rules.
They've already got the release of 17 prisoners.
"We filed cases before courts of which we knew nothing. Kim knew I wouldn't cobrábamos for this. We were half way into this project, without charging, without money and no contributions from anyone. "
Barnett said that Kardashian decided to support Johnson's cause and offered to fund the campaign 90 days of Freedom when no one wanted to contribute funds.
"He always offered his resources. We never asked Kim for a penny, "said Barnett.
Barnett and Cody will launch a new initiative, the Third Strike Project, on June 19. It points to the people in their data bank who did not benefit from last year's campaign, the First Step Act, which made it possible to reconsider convicts convictions for selling crack.
"We have a client sentenced to perpetual prison for sale of marijuana. The First Step Act didn't help because it didn't cover the marijuana, Cody explained. "Perhaps they had a large amount of other kind of drug. Maybe powder cocaine, five kilos. We could not ask the judge retroactively to reduce the sentence. "
According to the project buried alive, 3,834 people were sentenced to life imprisonment for drugs between 1988 and 2016. Of these, 63% were black and 17% were Hispanic. 46% were 46 years old or older.
Barnett and Cody reject the criticisms of annoying people with the attention that Kardashian receives.
"We tell the truth and the truth is that Kim supported us when everyone turned their backs on us," Barnett said. "People have to analyze this more thoroughly, to understand that someone with Kim's celebrity and platform is raising awareness about issues that interest many of us, where we have been working for a long time. We open their arms to those who want to join this fight. "
Mandatory sentences do not take into account mitigating measures such as the case of Reynolds Wintersmith, arrested at age 19 and sentenced to life imprisonment following the parameters. He was in jail for 20 years.
"Her mother died of an overdose. He went to live with his grandmother, who was abusive and taught him to sell and prepare crack, "said Cody. "It's a total gap of the whole system" to support a young man.
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