Inside Kim Kardashian’s prison reform activism – from bid to save Melissa Lucio to freeing Alice Marie Johnson

KIM Kardashian can now add prison reform activist to her job title as she continues to speak out on behalf of death row inmate

This week, Kardashian began raising awareness for Texas death-row inmate and mother, Melissa Lucio.

Lucio is scheduled to be executed on April 27, after she was convicted for allegedly killing her 2-year-old daughter in 2007.

Lucio would be the first woman executed in Texas since 2014, and only the 17th woman executed in the US since 1976.

“She has been on death row for over 14 years for her daughter’s death that was a tragic accident,” Kardashian wrote drawing attention to Lucio’s case.

“Her 2-year old daughter Mariah fell down a flight of stairs and two days later passed away while taking a nap.

“After she called for help, she was taken into custody by the police.”

Lucio’s attorneys say that she was coerced into a guilty confession and that Mariah died after falling down a 14-step staircase outside of Lucio’s apartment complex in Harlingen, Texas.

In 2020, Lucio was featured in the documentary The State of Texas v. Melissa, in which she claims that the investigators on her case kept pushing her to say that she hurt Mariah intentionally.

“I was not gonna admit to causing her death because I wasn’t responsible,” Lucio told .

Both Republicans and Democrats in Texas, as well as Kardashian, have been calling on Texas Governor Greg Abbott to step in and prevent Lucio’s execution.

Eighty-three Texas House members wrote a letter saying that executing Lucio would be “a miscarriage of justice.”

“As a conservative Republican myself, who has long been a supporter of the death penalty in the most heinous cases … I have never seen a more troubling case than the case of Melissa Lucio,” Texas state Rep Jeff Leach told KWTX.

In 2015, Governor Abbott saved another death-row inmate from execution.

“It’s stories like Melissa’s that make me speak so loud about the death penalty in general and why it should be banned when innocent people are suffering,” Kardashian wrote on social media.

JULIUS JONES

This is not the first time Kardashian has spoken out so publicly about the death penalty.

In 2021, she was influential in raising awareness for Oklahoma death-row inmate Julius Jones.

Jones’ death sentence was changed to life in prison just hours before his execution was scheduled.

Jones was convicted of first-degree murder but claims that he was framed for murder by a friend who testified against him.

Kardashian worked with Jones and his legal team often during his stay on death row and spoke with him on the phone in the days leading up to his planned execution.

“I’m so grateful to everyone who used their voice and helped to save Julius’s life today,” Kardashian told in November of 2021, the day Jones’ life was spared.

Besides Jones, Kardashian has been influential in at least seven additional notable inmate cases, helping prisoners to be moved off of death row and released from the prison system altogether.

In 2018, Kardashian helped to free 64-year-old Alice Marie Johnson, who was serving time for a non-violent drug charge.

In 2019, she helped free 39-year-old Momolou Stewart who was arrested as a minor but tried as an adult.

Kardashian also freed Crystal Munoz and Judith Negron through her campaign to release women from prison.

Kardashian has been influential in several other prison cases and has provided financial support to cover the legal fees of many wrongly accused men and women in the US prison system.

“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,” Kardashian’s personal lawyer Brittney Barnett told .