Kim Kardashian Heading to White House to Discuss Policy Because That’s the World We Live in Now

Kim Kardashian Heading to White House to Discuss Policy Because That’s the World We Live in Now

America has a real problem with its carceral state. The United States imprisons more people per capita than any other country in the world, even autocracies like China or Iran that routinely imprison people for political dissent and are general considered brutal human rights abusers. We also treat prisoners particularly poorly, with many states using prisoners as slave laborers.

So who is going to take a stand to reform prisons and our broken justice system? Why, Kim Kardashian, of course. Kim is going to the White House to meet with Jared Kushner to discuss prison reform. Because of course she is. Why would Donald Trump’s White House meet with experts when they can talk to a reality TV star who is basically only famous for having a sex tape. I’m surprised she doesn’t have a cabinet position by now.

Don’t take that as a slight on Kardashian, though. Kim has been advocating on behalf of Alice Johnson, a 63-year-old woman serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for a non-violent drug offense, which also happens to be a first offense. If that sounds insane to you, it is, and Kim Kardashian using her platform to advocate for this woman is entirely noble and correct.

We also heard this week about Matthew Charles, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for selling crack, served 21 years, became a law clerk and got an early release only to be told two years later that his release was a mistake and, despite the fact that he committed a minor, non-violent crime and had completely reformed and become an asset to his community, he would have to report back to prison and serve another 14 years.

Vanity Fair explained why the issue of prison reform was so important to Jared Kushner in their report on the meeting.

Prison reform is an issue near and dear to Kushner, whose father, Charles, spent more than a year in a federal prison camp in 2005 and 2006 on charges of tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, and witness tampering. The experience left an indelible mark on the young Kushner who, for years, carried a wallet his father made for him in prison; when he joined the White House as senior adviser, he vowed to help improve the system that his father had come through.

So while Trump’s Attorney General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, has been cracking down on low-level drug offenses, Jared Kushner has been worried about the conditions in which white-collar criminals serve. Seems about right. Arrest more poor, mostly non-white people for minor offenses and put rich people who defraud others for millions under house arrest.

Personally, I think Kim might be successful in getting Trump to pardon Johnson. All she really has to do is tell him he’ll get a lot of good press and that President Obama refused to pardon her. Basically the same way Sylvester Stallone convinced him to issue a posthumous pardon to Jack Johnson, the first African-American WBA World Heavyweight Champion, last week. Really all it takes to get Trump to do anything is to tell him Obama didn’t do it.

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