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A Los Angeles native, Jessica Kwong grew up speaking Spanish, Cantonese and English, in that order. Her journalism career started at the San Francisco Chronicle and she has also been a
staff writer at the San Antonio Express-News, La Opinión, Time Warner Cable Sports, San Francisco Examiner, and the Orange County Register. Kwong earned her bachelor's degree in Comparative
Literature in Spanish and English and Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Kim Kardashian West, who has been speaking to President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner about clemency for a 62-year-old woman imprisoned for life, praised Kushner's prison reform
efforts in a new interview and said she is behind them.
"I've been in communication with the White House and trying to bring her case to the president's desk and figure out how we can get her out. Jared Kushner, who I have spoken to, has been
really working on criminal justice reform bills," Kardashian West told Mic in an interview posted Wednesday.
Related: Jared Kushner's Closeness to Trump Could Help Finally Deliver Prison Reform, Former U.S. Attorney Says
The reality television star has been conversing with Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump since October about clemency for Alice Johnson, who has been in federal prison for more than two
decades for a non-violent drug offense: playing a role in facilitating communications in a drug trafficking case.
"I know they're internally talking about it, so that's such a huge step from where we started with that not even being on their radar," Kardashian West said of Johnson's case.
Asked what she thought about criticism around her working with the Trump administration, Kardashian West again pointed to the White House's criminal justice reform work, headed by Kushner.
"For me, I'm just focused on criminal justice reform and helping one person at a time," she said. "And so far, the White House has been really receptive to my calls, and I'm grateful for
that. And I'm not going to stop that because people personally don't like Trump."
Big interview! I sat down with @KimKardashian to discuss how she got involved in the case of Alice Johnson (it all started with a @mic video) and what she's doing to get this woman out of
prison. Watch and read more here: https://t.co/DuCz3ZdBld https://t.co/xJMro8KkfV
The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday advanced a bipartisan prison reform bill that Kushner has rallied for, and that had previously been postponed. But criminal justice advocates,
including the ACLU, criticized the legislation for not addressing sentencing reform.
"Supporters of the legislation have used the phrase 'something is better than nothing,'" Jesselyn McCurdy, deputy director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office, said in a statement.
"No meaningful reform to our criminal justice system can be made without addressing how people enter prison and how they can rebuild their lives after—and this legislation does neither."
Kushner has suggested that prison reform should be a first step and that if approved, will build momentum for the more polarizing sentencing reform.
A Los Angeles native, Jessica Kwong grew up speaking Spanish, Cantonese and English, in that order. Her journalism career started at the San Francisco Chronicle and she has also been a
staff writer at the San Antonio Express-News, La Opinión, Time Warner Cable Sports, San Francisco Examiner, and the Orange County Register. Kwong earned her bachelor's degree in Comparative
Literature in Spanish and English and Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley.
A Los Angeles native, Jessica Kwong grew up speaking Spanish, Cantonese and English, in that order. Her journalism career started at the San Francisco Chronicle and she has also been a
staff writer at the San Antonio Express-News, La Opinión, Time Warner Cable Sports, San Francisco Examiner, and the Orange County Register. Kwong earned her bachelor's degree in Comparative
Literature in Spanish and English and Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley.