A 63-year-old grandmother jailed in 1996 on a non-violent drug charge has been released from prison after she was granted clemency by President Trump.
Alice Johnson ran towards an emotional reunion with her family after leaving the prison in Pickens County, Alabama.
Her case was highlighted when Kim Kardashian West, who has lobbied for her release, met Mr Trump last week.
The White House said Johnson had been a model prisoner and worked hard to rehabilitate herself.
She was jailed alongside 15 others for taking part in a cocaine distribution ring, and convicted on charges of attempted possession of drugs and money-laundering in Tennessee.
Long battle finally over
Analysis by Jessica Lussenhop, BBC News, Washington
After four years and two presidential administrations, Alice Marie Johnson is finally going home.
I first began communicating with Ms Johnson as she waited to hear whether or not she’d been approved under President Barack Obama’s Clemency Initiative in 2014. She easily met all of the criteria, she had a spotless disciplinary record and even her own warden felt that she deserved to go home.
But days before he left office, Mr Obama denied her as well as hundreds of others. She swore to me she would never put her family through this process again – the disappointment was too painful for her two daughters.
Renewed hope came in the unlikely form of a reality TV superstar – Kim Kardashian West, whom Johnson began referring to as her “war angel”. Today, the long battle is finally over, though it is more a testament to the arbitrariness of the clemency process than anything else.
According to Ms Johnson’s lawyer Brittany K Barnett, it was Kardashian West herself who called to deliver the news to Ms Johnson.
“Overwhelmed with emotion, Alice said it feels like she has been ‘resurrected from the dead and she has her life back’.”
What did the White House say?
“Ms Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behaviour and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades,” the White House said in a statement.
“Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates.”
The statement added that the administration believed in being tough on crime but believed in giving a second chance to those who tried to better themselves in prison.
Source: BBC news
