00:00Alice Marie Johnson is enjoying her first days of freedom after spending more than two
00:04decades in prison.
00:06In 1997, Alice was sentenced to life without parole for her role in a drug trafficking
00:11operation in the Memphis area.
00:13I was told that I would not leave prison alive.
00:18President Trump commuted her sentence after Kim Kardashian advocated for her release last
00:22week at the White House.
00:23In October 2017, she shared Alice's story on Twitter saying, this is so unfair.
00:29Truth is, had it not been for that viral video, I would only come home as a corpse to reunite
00:37with my family.
00:53When the jury came back on Halloween 1996, I had no idea that a life sentence was even
01:01on the table.
01:03The initial offer was three to five years.
01:06To have received a life plus 25 year prison sentence for a first time non-violent offense
01:13is wrong.
01:15Alice is an amazing woman.
01:18And what she hasn't told you, because of course she would not, is that she was also an amazing
01:23woman in prison.
01:24She was a hero there.
01:28She was a playwright and had incredible productions that people got involved in.
01:35Everything that she could have done productively there, she did hospice, credentials, the warden
01:43supported her.
01:44It's really no surprise that this video went viral because the video was about her.
01:52Since I've been released from prison, I've been to the White House, the United Nations,
01:57fighting to change the whole trajectory of how people view prison reform and how they view
02:04people who are in prison.
02:07When Shawn first contacted me, the only thing that she told me was that a very famous and
02:15wealthy benefactor wanted to help me, I'm just going to paraphrase it, get out of prison.
02:21It didn't take even a hesitation, not let me think about it, but yes, I do.
02:26For a couple of days, I believe, I didn't know who this benefactor was.
02:30So I got my daughter to Google Shawn Chapman Holley and let's just check out her clients,
02:36since it's one of her clients that wants to help me.
02:39So my daughter asked me, she said, what if it's Kim Kardashian?
02:43And I said, Kim, who?
02:45I don't diminish the work of other advocates and how others were fighting for my release.
02:53Kim actually took action and she put her money behind her action.
02:58People don't know the backstory of how hard the fight was and how hard the team of attorneys
03:06fought.
03:07Shawn being, I used to call her the general, because she had to orchestrate the things
03:13that were taking place.
03:15There would be moments where we wouldn't hear from anybody, Kim and I, we wouldn't hear
03:19from anybody from the White House and we didn't want to push, but we had to push.
03:27They wanted a lot of things, they wanted a lot of documents.
03:30I have to give Shawn credit also because Shawn had to turn that Oval Office into the courtroom
03:36on my behalf.
03:39I can't tell you what it felt like to have the weight lifted off of me of almost 22 years
03:47in prison.
03:48So I've been busy.
03:49I've been busy with my family, busy being a grandmother and getting to know my grandchildren
03:57who I only knew from prison communication.
04:01When one person goes to prison, their entire family goes with them.
04:06My family did every day of that time with me.
04:11Communities are impacted.
04:13Children are being left without parents to take care of them.
04:16I know that my case is not unique.
04:19There's so many others who are suffering in prison right now who have long draconian sentences
04:25like the one that was handed down to me.
04:29One of the things I like to see is mandatory minimums completely struck down and stop putting
04:34a rubber stamp on people's lives.
04:37Even though it may have seemed like I was delayed being granted my freedom, I believe truly
04:43that I was destined for this, that this was part of my purpose.
04:48It took Alice Marie Johnson to put a face on this evil.
04:53Speaking for people that you may never see, that you may never hear, I'm in it for the
04:59long haul.
05:00I'm enjoying my freedom.
05:02But I also want to see other families reunited and experience what I'm experiencing now.
05:09I can't stop.
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