Included among President Trump’s high-profile grants of clemency that grabbed national attention this week were sentence commutations for two nonviolent drug offenders thanks to some help from former federal prisoner Alice Johnson.
The president announced 11 pardons Tuesday and commutations for several well-known convicted criminals, including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr., and “junk bond king” Michael Milken. Slipped in among them were Tynice Nichole Hall and Crystal Munoz, who have both spent more than a decade in prison for nonviolent drug offenses.
Munoz, a 40-year-old mother of two, had served 12 of her nearly 20-year sentence for her involvement in a marijuana smuggling ring. Her small role involved drawing a map that others then allegedly used to smuggle the substance into the United States from Mexico. She was convicted in 2007 for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana.
Johnson and Munoz spent several years together at a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, sharing the same housing unit and attending church together.
“We did a lot of crying and a lot of praying together for things to change for us,” Johnson said of Munoz, whom she called “one of my prison daughters.”
Munoz was in custody when she gave birth to her second child and was shackled during her delivery, a practice that is now banned. During her time in prison, she “mentored people working to better their lives, volunteered with a hospice program, and demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to rehabilitation,” according to the White House.
Johnson also vouched for Tynice Nichole Hall, a 36-year-old mother of one who was hit with a hefty sentence for allowing her apartment to be used to distribute drugs. Despite letting her boyfriend sell cocaine out of her residence, she was never accused of any crime with a victim.
Hall faced charges for conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute a substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine base, as well as aiding and abetting. After her conviction, she was given an 18-year sentence and had served nearly 14 years when Trump commuted her sentence.
While behind bars, Hall completed several job-training programs and apprenticeships and taught prison educational programs to her fellow inmates. She also began her coursework toward earning a college degree in sociology and already has a job offer.
Johnson, who had been serving a life sentence for her first-time, nonviolent drug offense, received a sentence commutation from Trump in 2018 after reality TV star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian West personally lobbied the president on her behalf. Following her release, she struggled to stop thinking about the inmates she left behind but got the chance to take action after the president asked her for a list of others deserving of clemency last year.
“Kim made a difference going to the White House fighting for me, so if I can fight for something, I definitely wasn’t going to turn that opportunity down,” she said. “I get a chance, Martha, to use my voice and to use my story to advocate for others to be set free also.”
Johnson additionally signaled her support for commuting the sentence of Judith Negron, 48, who was eight years into a 35-year sentence for her role as a minority owner of a healthcare company that schemed to defraud the federal government.
The Trump administration made criminal justice and prison reform a priority, including the president signing the First Step Act, which aims to help formerly incarcerated people reenter society and reduce recidivism, among making other prison reforms into law. Trump’s reelection campaign touted the progress in a Super Bowl ad featuring Johnson last month.
