Kim Kardashian leads young influencers on Los Angeles prison trip to raise criminal justice reform awareness
LANCASTER, Calif. - Kim and Khloé Kardashian walked into a California prison Monday morning with a different goal in mind – guiding a group of young influencers through the American criminal justice system.
"It’s always an honor to be able to visit the men and women living behind our prison walls," Kim, a longtime criminal justice reform advocate, said Monday. The "Kardashians" star had spent several hours at the California State Prison of Los Angeles County in Lancaster with Michael Rubin and members of the REFORM Alliance – a group that aims to help ex-cons successfully return to society through probation and parole reform – and a number of young social media stars.
"Hearing the stories of people trapped in the prison system is what drives my commitment to advocate for reform and find ways to leverage my platform to help change lives and laws," she said of the visit, which began around 9:30 a.m.
In a proverbial generational shift, the social media and reality TV superstar said the goal of the trip was to introduce a new group of Gen-Z influencers to key issues of criminal justice and proposals for reform.
They are called the Future Shapers Advisory Council, which was established in February with the REFORM Alliance, and includes Hannah Jackson, Rondo Bonilla, sisters Charli D’Amelio and Dixie D’Amelio, Sophia Kianni, C.J. Stroud, Zander Moricz, Jack Wright, Bryce Young, Jax Ajueny and Aidan Kohn-Murphy.
In 2018, Kardashian famously lobbied then-President Donald Trump for the release of Alice Johnson, who served 21 years in prison for a nonviolent offense.
"We are building up the next generation of leaders and influencers who will join us in this fight," the SKIMS mogul said.
The prison's inmate roster has previously included Joseph Son, the former "Austin Powers" actor who killed a cellmate while serving time for another crime, and the prolific serial murderer Samuel Little.
Kardashian's group heard the stories of a series of incarcerated men, discussed potential solutions for public safety and rehabilitation, and visited with members of the prison's PAWS For Life program, according to the REFORM Alliance.
A prison spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Others in attendance included California state Rep. Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, rapper Lil Baby, REFORM officials Jessica Jackson and Law Erin Haney, and Heidi and Marc D’Amelio.
Kardashian was an outspoken supporter of the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that Trump signed in 2018.
She has also hosted a podcast on the subject, "Kim Kardashian's The System," and has made visits to jails and prisons around the country.
For years, she's visited inmates around the country, including former Oklahoma death row resident Julius Jones in prison roughly a year before Gov. Kevin Stitt granted him clemency in 2021, commuting his sentence to life without parole.
And in 2020, she partnered with Oxygen for a two-hour documentary titled "Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project," in which she revealed she hoped to become a lawyer.
After leaving the state prison in Lancaster, the group stopped for lunch at La Papillon, a steakhouse and seafood restaurant.
In 2020, Kardashian addressed people who aren't familiar with her prison reform work, thinking it is a publicity stunt.
"I would say, first of all, [I'm] spending so much time away from my family and children," she told Fox News Digital at the time. "I'm going to law school, which is taking 18 hours a week from my babies to study. I think there are more cost-effective and time-effective publicity stunts that I can do. I always laugh at that one. Why would someone go to law school for a publicity stunt? That’s torture."
"What I really want is for these cases, these stories of injustices, to get attention," she continued. "I think as long as these cases are getting attention, that just makes me really happy. I just hope that it continues like that, no matter what it's faced with."
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"I think you just have to tune out the noise and stay focused on people and these issues," she added. "They're the ones that deserve the attention, not the critics."