After receiving a life sentence for a first time, nonviolent offense, and serving 21 years in an Alabama federal prison, Alice Marie Johnson returned to the state to empower those who are still serving harsh punishments.

Johnson is the founder and chief executive officer of Taking Action For Good, a program working to humanize those who have been imprisoned through storytelling, reduce prison populations and reform the criminal justice system to reduce harsh sentencing.

Earlier this month, she returned to Aliceville Federal Correctional Institution to give the keynote speech at the prison’s first ever graduation ceremony for the Bureau of Prison’s Life Connections Program, an 18-month program where participants volunteer with community members, take life skill classes and create reentry plans.

“These were mothers, sisters, daughters, friends, and to see the joy on their faces and to see them talk about how this program had changed their lives, and really prepared them and gave them hope that they could be successful when they left was so touching,” Johnson said.

Through her organization, she aims to help people who are incarcerated and recently released.

“I want to make sure that they’re given a voice, that they’re being humanized and people see the impact that they’ve made in their communities and their families. They tell not only where they are now, but what led up to this and the changes that they’ve made in their lives while they were incarcerated and their readiness to come home.”

Leading up to her arrest, Johnson and her husband divorced. She lost her long-time job at FedEx due to a gambling addiction. She filed for bankruptcy and lost a house to foreclosure. In 1992, her youngest son Cory was killed in a scooter accident.

Johnson said she made a series of mistakes in desperation to care for her family that led to her incarceration.

In 1997 she was convicted of drug conspiracy and money laundering and received life in prison without parole, plus 25 years. It was her first conviction. Fifteen other people received sentences ranging from probation without jail time to 10 years.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, of those serving life without parole as of 2020, 2,340 people were convicted of nonviolent crimes, with 60% being drug offenses. Nearly 60% are people of color.

“Giving people a second chance is really humanizing and I think that’s what I bring. People can see a broken system where a person can be a first time, nonviolent offender and get a life plus 25 year sentence. Something is wrong with that,” Johnson said.

In 2018, then U.S. President Donald Trump commuted her sentence, encouraged by Kim Kardashian, who had taken up her cause. Upon her release, Johnson immediately jumped into advocacy work.

Johnson helped to pass the First Step Act in an effort to improve criminal justice outcomes and reduce federal prison populations.

According to recent data from the Bureau of Prisons, the recidivism rate for First Step Act releases is 12.4% as of Aug. 2023, compared to an estimated recidivism rate of 19.8% for similarly situated pre-act releases.

She said she is working to collect the stories of incarcerated people to humanize those behind bars, secure early releases for the elderly and those serving overly harsh sentences and bring awareness to the need for criminal justice reform.

She is also working on a new project introducing prevention and intervention strategies to keep youth away from crime.

“One of the best ways to reduce the prison population is to target our youth before they go and become a part of the system,” Johnson said.

“This is a big piece of criminal justice that we need to tackle, dealing with mental health, that will help with the problems that we’re having with our youth. That will really help to not only rebuild communities by bringing people out of prison, but keeping the youth from going into prison.”

While in prison, Johnson volunteered with Aliceville community members and fostered lasting relationships with the women who were also incarcerated. She said she often spoke with the women about their hopes and dreams.

“I told them when I left that I would never forget about them and that I would never stop fighting for them,” Johnson said.

“I’m one of them. I’m just a free one of them. They don’t have a voice, I am their voice. If I don’t tell their stories, who’s going to?”