"I feel that I have not only paid my debt, but I’ve overpaid my debt for the crime that I committed," she said. "I’m not bitter about it. I’m just happy that it has come to an end."
Johnson gathered letters of recommendations from her warden and members of Congress in their initial effort to seek clemency from President Barack Obama.
In 2017, Kardashian West tweeted a link to Mic's story about Johnson, a first-time offender and reported model prisoner.
According to a 2013 ACLU report on people sentenced to life without parole for nonviolent offenses, Johnson got involved with people selling drugs out of desperation, after she lost her job and was unable to pay her bills.
She was arrested in 1993 and accused of participating in a drug trafficking and money-laundering operation that distributed cocaine. She said she never personally made drug deals or sold drugs but that she did relay messages and allowed others in the conspiracy to use her telephone.
Kardashian West began working with her personal lawyer, Shawn Holley, to bring attention to Johnson’s case. She later spoke on the phone with presidential adviser Jared Kushner, who has been pursuing prison reform, a source familiar with the issue told ABC News last month.
The reality TV star traveled to the White House for a May 30 Oval Office meeting with President Trump.
Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, also met with West to discuss his efforts on prison reform.
Just days later, Trump commuted Johnson's sentence.
"Ms. Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades. Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates," the White House said in a statement announcing the commutation of her sentence.
"While this Administration will always be very tough on crime, it believes that those who have paid their debt to society and worked hard to better themselves while in prison deserve a second chance," the White House said in a statement.
As clemency petitions work their way through the system, the president routinely denies the "vast majority" of requests, a White House official said. Recently the administration notified a group of 180 petitioners that they would not be granted presidential clemency, according to the Justice Department.
ABC News' Katherine Faulders, Jordyn Phelps, Ali Rogin, Cindy Smith, John Santucci, Ali Rogin, Julia Jacobo and Barbara Schmitt contributed to this report.
Kaynak:Abcnews