Kim Kardashian West helps Miami man get early release from prison after he served 22 years for a nonviolent drug offense
After being involved in the case of Alice Marie Johnson—a 63-year-old great-grandmother who was serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense—Kim Kardashian West is now helping another inmate who has been in prison for a long time due to nonviolent offenses.
NBC Miami reported that 47-year-old Jeffrey Stringer, who is an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution-Talladega, is slowly heading in the direction of freedom. The man felt like he was definitely going to end up spending the rest of his life in prison after being arrested in the late 1990s in West Palm Beach.
His adult daughter recalls how she has never seen her father outside of jail. Jacaria Stringer said in an interview: "Only thing I know is his birthday and where his prison is at. I don't really know too much. I haven't had the chance to meet him outside." But that is going to change now thanks to his lawyer Brittany Barnett. and Kardashian West.
He already had two prior convictions to his name and was then charged with manufacturing and intending to distribute cocaine. Stringer's case gained attention across the country as a prime example of a nonviolent drug offender who had faced a severe punishment due to rigid federal guidelines.
However, Stringer and others just like him are getting a second chance thanks to new guidelines that were signed into laws by President Trump last year. The cause also had a massive boost in publicity to the plight of inmates such as Stringer which were brought to the forefront by Kardashian West.
A judge ruled on May 3 that Stringer, who had been in jail for 22 years, should be released based on the First Step Act signed by Trump. This allows some nonviolent offenders to earn credits for good behavior and get an early release that way. Jacaria said after the judge ruled on Friday: "I never even thought I'd get to see him out of prison, so it feels good."
The family told NBC Miami that Kardashian West and Stringer's relatives enjoyed a celebratory FaceTime chat after the ruling. Stringer's Dallas-based attorney Barnett said that the only thing keeping her client in jail is the calculations of good behavior credits to see when he will be let out. Barnett's office had calculated the credits and believe that he should be released on late Monday or early Tuesday but the Bureau of Prisons did the math and said a June 30 release is more likely.
Barnett said in a statement on Monday: "It's complicated. Essentially, when you have a life sentence, it's life, you don't accrue good time credit. Now that the life sentence is off, the prison is calculating good time. It's a complex process. We are working on it now."
Kardashian West and all of Stringer's other supporters are not bothered about when exactly he will be released but are excited that it will be sooner rather than later. She tweeted on Friday along with a picture of Stringer's family: "He served too much time but it gives me so much joy to fund this life-saving work."
This isn't the first time the reality TV star has used her celebrity status and social media influence to back individual cases and push for prison reform. She had previously lobbied for Tennessee inmate Cyntoia Brown, who killed a man as a teen while she was a sex trafficking victim. Brown was granted clemency by the governor shortly after Kardashian West stepped in.
Kardashian West also lobbied for Alice Marie Johnson, who used to work in a cocaine trafficking ring in Tennessee. The president commuted Johnson's sentence a little after the reality star personally lobbied the woman's case to him.
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