While Kim Kardashian and her husband Kanye West are preparing to welcome a baby boy into their family, the reality TV star and beauty entrepreneur has also been busy working to further develop her business endeavors outside of the entertainment realm.
After announcing last month her plans to become a lawyer and continue her work as a criminal justice reform advocate, new reports reveal that Kardashian has already been working diligently behind the scenes to help free first-time nonviolent drug offenders from jail.
As reported by CNN, Brittany K. Barnett, Kardashian’s personal attorney and co-founder of the Buried Alive Project, and MiAngel Cody, lead counsel of the The Decarceration Collective, confirmed that Kardashian has been instrumental in the release of 17 inmates throughout the course of the past three months.
“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 shared with CNN on Tuesday (May 7). “We’ve been going around the country in courtrooms and asking judges to release these inmates.”
Barnett also noted that without Kardashian’s financial contribution, such efforts to help release the inmates would not have been possible.
“(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,” Barnett added. “I work personally with her, we are really grateful.”
However, while many may assume that Kardashian is simply footing the bill when it comes to legal fees, the aspiring lawyer is actually doing much more to aid in the process that simply writing a check.
“When people get out of prison, they might be incarcerated hundreds of miles from their families and they might need help getting home,” Cody explained. “Really important, critical things that people might not realize — and those are things Kim is helping with as well.”
Last year, Kardashian made national headlines when she visited President Trump at the White House in order to discuss the case of Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender who had already served 21 years behind bars and was sentenced to life for the offense. A week after their meeting, Trump commuted Johnson’s sentence and she was soon released and united with her family.