RePath Round Up--The Prison to Czar Pipeline
Plus, escaping death in Oklahoma, brain food in Connecticut, and the many uses for Fabuloso
A reentry story: Alice Marie Johnson grew up in the civil rights era in Mississippi as one of nine children of sharecroppers. She first became pregnant as a sophomore in high school and she eventually married and had four additional children. When she lost her job at FedEx, which she had held for ten years, due to a gambling addiction, a divorce, and home foreclosure, bankruptcy soon followed.
Two years later, in 1993, Johnson was arrested on eight federal criminal counts relating to her leadership in a massive Memphis, Tennessee, cocaine drug ring. The operation involved more than a dozen defendants and it literally bought over a ton of cocaine from Columbian drug dealers in Texas. Johnson was described as the “quintessential entrepreneur” who directed the sale of this cocaine onto the streets where it had a “very significant impact” on the community.
Three years after her arrest, Johnson was convicted of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and money laundering. She received a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole—plus 25 years.
Johnson became a grandmother and great grandmother while incarcerated. After serving 20 years, she eventually came to the attention of Kim Kardashian, who, in turn, lobbied President Trump in his first term for her release. Trump granted Johnson clemency in 2018 and a full pardon in 2020.
On February 20, 2025, Trump named Johnson, now 69, as the White House Pardon Czar. Her job will be to examine the federal prison system and recommend individuals who should be pardoned. She reports directly to the Attorney General and the President. She is the first individual in the history of the United States to hold this position.
Unlike most presidential appointments, Johnson has received universal and bi-partisan support. Progressive criminal justice reform advocate Van Jones was effusive about the choice:
He put Miss Alice Johnson – the formerly incarcerated Black woman who he freed while working with Kim Kardashian – he just put her in charge of pardons. That’s huge. Somebody who has actually been incarcerated, been in the federal system, understands how the Department of Justice screws over people who should be coming home – some people who shouldn’t come home – but a lot of people that should come home, and they get screwed by the pardon office. She’s gonna fix that. As somebody who has worked on criminal justice, as you know, for 30 years, having someone who’s a formerly incarcerated person in charge of going through all these pardons and making sure that people get a fair shot – I think that’s a very good thing.
Nine lives in the Sooner State: A death row inmate, who has survived nine separate execution dates in Oklahoma had his conviction tossed out by the Supreme Court this week. Richard Glossip was originally convicted in the 1997 killings of a hotel worker. In a rare finding, the Supreme Court agreed that a new trial was necessary because the prosecution allowed a key witness to provide evidence they knew to be false. Glossip is expected to remain in prison until the state decides whether or not to retry him for the murder. Of note, the Republican attorney general of Oklahoma supported the reversal.
Another release: The “Bridgeport Cannibal Killer” has been granted a conditional release this week in Connecticut. Tyree Smith was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the 2013 killing and eating of a man in a vacant apartment in 2012. Smith’s cousin testified that Smith admitted to killing the man and eating one of his eyeballs and part of his brain. He has been held in a hospital since the event and according to the director, he is a “joy” who is a “calming presence for other patients.” As a result of his security review hearing earlier this week, he has been granted conditional release and has been discharged from the hospital. Many are outraged and some lawmakers have described the release decision as “mind-boggling.” At least they didn’t say it was also “eye-popping.”
By mail? A New York doctor has been indicted in Louisiana for allegedly providing abortion access across state lines by mail. Prosecutors claim that an underage girl’s mother requested abortion-inducing drugs from the New York doctor and forced the girl to take the pills. They claim the girl was excited about the pregnancy and wanted to have the child. Unsurprisingly, New York is not cooperating in sending the physician to Louisiana to face the charges and the Louisiana officials think it is “sick and barbaric” to cheerlead for the coerced abortion of a young girl. As of now, the case is at a stand-off between the Louisiana abortion laws and the New York shield laws. It seems the feds may have to decide the issue, which is precisely what the Supreme Court was trying to avoid in their 2022 Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade.
The Fourth Amendment may still be a thing: In a rare finding, a federal judge in Brooklyn has found that the government violated the Fourth Amendment by conducting searches without a warrant under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Civil rights attorneys have fought warrantless searches under Section 702 for years and this case represents a rare victory. They should savor it as the case has yet to be appealed.
Stranger Stuff
A full day’s work: Man beats and suffocates ex-girlfriend with a cleaning cloth soaked in Fabuloso, punches deputy and attempts to take his weapon, steals police cruiser, carjacks a woman, crashes her SUV, and finally gets arrested. Allegedly.
That thing you thought is not true: In one of the last acts of the Biden Department of Justice, the government wanted to keep $50,000 it seized from a business so it argued in court that it is free to take your money at will because money is not property. The position of the government, at least in December 2024, is that “money is not necessarily “property” for constitutional purposes.” Therefore, all laws that say it can’t take your property do not apply to your money.
A man has to make a living: An inmate serving a 13-year sentence for a $24M ponzi scheme now faces new charges in a $10M real estate scam he pulled off from jail. No, his name is not Sam Bankman-Fried.
Come on, come on, come on: An Arizona inmate is asking the judge to accelerate his execution date and wants the state to quit “dragging its feet.”
Mom, Dad, can you help? An inmate’s parents along with a former corrections officer have been arrested in connection with a $200k drug smuggling operation in a Virginia prison. Wait, was it wrong to bring in all that buprenorphine, naloxone, and methamphetamine?
