Black Attorney Brittany K. Barnett Says She Is Responsible For The Release Of 17 Inmates Not Kim Kardashian
Attorney Brittany K. Barnett. Co-Founder of the Buried Alive Project and Founder of Girls Embracing Mothers Co-Founder of the Buried Alive Project and Founder of Girls Embracing Mothers
The past few days stories have been circulating in the media that Kim Kardashian West has helped free 17 inmates in 90 days.According to CNN, Kim Kardashian West has been helping win the freedom of 17 inmates, two attorneys told CNN.
Kim Kardashian West is staying true to her pledge to fight for prison reform.CNN has learned that the E! star has been quietly working behind the scenes over the past three months to help commute the life sentences of 17 first-time nonviolent drug offenders.Brittany K. Barnett, Kardashian West’s personal attorney and co-founder of the Buried Alive Project, and MiAngel Cody, lead counsel of the The Decarceration Collective, told CNN that Kardashian West has been instrumental in the release of these inmates.“Kim has been funding this project and (has been) a very important supporter of our 90 Days of Freedom campaign as part of the First Step Act, which President Trump signed into law last year,” Cody said. “We’ve been going around the country in courtrooms and asking judges to release these inmates.”Barnett added that without Kardashian West footing the bill, this would not have been possible. “(Kim) has provided financial support to cover legal fees so that we can travel the country. Our relationships with our clients don’t end when they are freed. (Kim) is truly dedicated to the issue. I work personally with her, we are really grateful.”But she’s not just paying legal fees.“When people get out of prison, they might be incarcerated hundreds of miles from their families and they might need help getting home. Really important, critical things that people might not realize — and those are things Kim is helping with as well,” Cody added.
Attorney Brittany K. Barnett and MiAngel Cody
Attorney and criminal justice advocate Brittany K. Barnett has now come forward and made a statement on her Facebook Page about Kim’s role in freeing the 17 people.
According to Brittany K. Barnett, Kim linked arms with us to support us when foundations turned us down. We and our clients and their families have a lot of love for her and are deeply grateful for her. In 90 days TWO black women lawyers freed SEVENTEEN people from LIFE W/O PAROLE sentences – the second most severe penalty permitted by law in America. Only two of us. Prosecutors opposed nearly every single case we had. We litigated our asses off in federal courts across the country. We won DOWNWARD DEPARTURES in most of our cases – due to good lawyering. People set to DIE in prison – are now FREE. Our clients weren’t even on this selective list the Sentencing Commission sent out or on federal defenders radars. In fact we have copies of letters federal defenders sent some of our clients telling them they weren’t even eligible for relief under First Step Act – but we got them free. Our work in 90 days is historic. We picked some up from prison. We gave re-entry stipends. We continue to support them upon release.
Brittany K. Barnett Facebook statement
“The first and last time I will speak on it. Seriously, because the negativity from today is misdemeanor shit and we still have lives to save. MiAngel Cody and I have BEEN doing this work for FREE. Ask any of our dozens of clients who are now free living their best lives. Both of us left six figure salary jobs and wiped out our own savings accounts to fund our work. We attempted to get grants from these large foundations shelling out MILLIONS of dollars to other organizations but would not look our way because they so-called don’t fund “direct services”. Our hands were full picking locks to human cages, we didn’t have time to participate in glorified begging from the nonprofit industrial complex only to be turned down.”
She went on to say, Educate yourself on the real before coming to me with the bullshit. I may seem quiet but I promise I’m not the one. This criminal justice reform space is the messiest, pettiest, most divisive and cliquish shit I’ve ever seen in my entire life – with human lives at stake. The drama is mind blowing. I’ve never seen anything like what goes on in this space and I want no parts of the drama. This is why my sis and I stay in our corner and do the work – and why we will continue to do so. Both of us have had a parent in prison. This work is real to us.
We are ELATED 17 people will not die in prison. We are ELATED 17 families are restored. Instead of negativity about Kim, why don’t y’all reach out and see if the 17 people we helped free need anything. Welcome them home. Give them jobs. Send a care package. Amplify their voices without the sharecropping.
Kim has always been very clear in her role. It’s the media that spins it around – not Kim. We do not care how the media is portraying it – that’s what the media does. Who cares. We need Kim’s support and the support of anyone else who wants to join this fight. We love that she is using her platform to raise awareness. We not trying to be famous, we trying to get our people free. Period.