MEMPHIS, Tennessee —
Thursday you may notice a familiar face speaking at the Republican National Convention.
Alice Marie Johnson, who was granted Clemency by President Trump in 2018 will share her story and speak about criminal justice reform in the Rose Garden.
Since being free, Johnson has used her time to help others who are currently in prison through her foundation, “TAG” which stands for Taking Action for Good.
Johnson, who is from Memphis will be on a national stage to convince law makers to support criminal justice reform. It’s because of President Trump that’s she’s able to speak freely about this. She says the First Step Act is a good start, but it’s still a nationwide problem.
The First Step Act shortens mandatory minimum sentence for nonviolent drug offenses. It also eases a federal “three strikes” rule which currently imposes a life sentence for three or more convictions and issues a 25-year sentence instead.
“When a person has already served their time when is enough, enough? I was incarcerated for more than 2 decades, almost 22 years. And I know that our streets were not safer because I was sitting behind prison bars,” Johnson told Local 24 News Weekend Anchor, Annette Peagler.
Those who may not know Johnson’s story will finally hear it Thursday night.
“There has never been a former prisoner speak at the RNC. Never. And I’m from Memphis. This is just unheard of to have something like this done,“ Johnson said.
Johnson spent 21 years in prison for her involvement in a drug trafficking ring in Memphis. She admits she has made mistakes, but felt that she served her time.
“I was sitting on a life without the possibility of parole sentence. So no matter how well I did in prison, no parole board would hear it because there is no parole in the federal system,” Johnson said.
DeAndre Brown, Executive Director of Lifeline to Success spent 25 months in prison, but his release story is a bit different. He was released in 2005, hired, but ran into a roadblock.
“About 3 years into the cleaning service my contract was taken because they found the conviction and when that happen that led me to start a program because I didn’t think it was fair to use me for this amount of time and the only reason you don’t want to use me in your building is because I have a previous conviction,” Brown said.
Brown and Johnson agree there should be more resources available for ex-convicts who are released.
“Are we going to punish people or rehabilitate people. We have a system that’s heavy on punishment and very low on rehabilitation. We are losing neighbors as opposed to gaining neighbors,” Brown said.
“We’re helping more people receive Clemency and pardons. The re-entry piece of it because I want to make sure when people come out, they have a chance for success," says Johnson.