How Kim Kardashian Helped Abuse Victim Get Out of Prison After Highlighting the Trauma She Suffered (Exclusive)

On Monday, December 16, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will announce that he is commuting the sentence of Dawn Jackson, 53, who was imprisoned for 30 years for the 1999 fatal shooting of her step-grandfather Robert McBride after years of sexual abuse.

The announcement marks the culmination of a years-long effort by Kim Kardashian to free Jackson: “Kim deserves a huge amount of credit on this one,” Murphy told PEOPLE.

Incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Women’s Correctional Center in Hunterdon, New Jersey, for 25 years, Jackson, who first filed for clemency in 2018, will emerge this week a free woman.

“We were all so emotional we couldn’t believe it,” Kardashian told PEOPLE in an exclusive joint interview with Murphy. “Just to know that these people’s cases have been heard and people believe in them the same way we do.”

After being charged with first-degree murder in 1999, Jackson was asked to plead guilty and sentenced to 30 years. But it was later revealed that her long history of sexual abuse since she was a young girl – by McBride and others close to her during her upbringing – had never been allowed in the bathroom. hearing.

Kardashian learned of the affair in 2019 when Jackson wrote to her detailing the abuse. Jackson said his public defender told him to plead guilty rather than go to trial.

Related: Kim and Khloé Kardashian Visit California Prison to Hear Inmates’ Experiences

“I could feel his pain through the letters,” says Kardashian, who is pursuing a law degree and focusing on criminal justice reform work. She sent Jackson’s correspondence to two attorneys she works with, Erin Haney and Jessica Jackson, both of REFORM Alliance, a criminal justice reform organization.

“I said, ‘Erin, we have to help this woman.’ She has suffered so much abuse – since she was a baby. You think about how we want to protect our children and think that no one was there to protect her. None of this (testimony) was allowed. »

Kardashian and Jackson bonded through letters and phone calls. “I think it’s just a little more emotional relationship because I deeply feel the compassion that she deserves after everything she’s been through,” said Kardashian, who has begun publicly defending Jackson on his massive social media platforms, and in 2020, featured Jackson’s story on Kim Kardashian: The Justice Project series on the Oxygen Network.

It was an eye-opening experience for the billionaire businesswoman, co-founder of Skims, reality TV star and mother of four, who also helped secure the release of Alice Marie Johnson. a grandmother and non-violent drug offender in 2018.

“It’s been a great journey of empathy,” she says, “and it’s opened my heart and soul to so many people I never thought I’d have the opportunity to meet.” »

“She endured unimaginable trauma,” says governor

Last June, Governor Murphy, a Democrat, launched the Clemency Initiative, which defines categories of cases for expedited review, including those of survivors of sexual and domestic violence. “Not only did society view domestic violence and survivors differently 30 or 40 years ago, but there is also a huge gap that is obvious,” says Murphy. “Not just with Dawn, but between what someone could have pleaded to and the sentence they received going through the full trial.”

Murphy delivered the good news to Jackson on Friday, Dec. 13 — she is one of 36 people granted clemency — and called it “probably the most emotional moment of my seven years as governor . She lived a difficult life. She endured unimaginable trauma and sexual abuse, dating back to her childhood. The sentence was too harsh – and if that wasn’t enough, she took responsibility and is a model citizen and I completely agree with Kim.”

Related: Kim Kardashian Wears Power Suit for White House Prison Reform Meetings

When Kardashian began working on criminal justice issues, she did not want to get involved in violent cases such as murders. “I thought I would stick to minor drug offenses,” she says. “But after meeting people inside (the prison), hearing their stories and looking at the photo of Dawn Jackson at 5, 6 and 7 years old being raped, you wonder, ‘How can no one?’ could he have helped her?’”

Still, she and Murphy recognize the seriousness of the accusation against Jackson. Said Murphy. “You would be seriously mistaken not to take the seriousness of this crime as a central factor, but ultimately the judgment on Dawn was overwhelmingly that it was the right decision.”

Related: Kim Kardashian Reveals How She Pleaded Alice Johnson’s Case to Trump in Emotional ‘KUWTK’ Scene

Kardashian adds: “It’s the idea of ​​ruining someone’s life forever – especially if you don’t consider what they’ve been through, especially if it’s abuse since they were a child . This is a deeper conversation and a bigger issue.

Menendez Brothers Are ‘Not a Threat to Society,’ Kardashian Says

The decision also affects the case of Lyle and Eric Menendez, who are currently serving life sentences for the murder of their parents in 1989 – a sentence that Kardashian said should be reconsidered in light of alleged abuse during the childhood who were not allowed in their testimony in court.

“I know it’s controversial, but even to me, the Menendez brothers, they’re not a threat to society,” she said. “I think we need to be able to understand and take abuse seriously and not just lock people up and throw them away. remove the key.

Related: The Menendez Brothers: Will They Be Free?

Jackson, a mother of eleven who graduated from high school and is currently pursuing a degree in criminal justice, will now move in with one of her daughters. “It’s a breathtaking, life-changing moment,” says Murphy, “and we hope to get more of them across the goal line over the next year.”

“Kim knows that, but not everyone believes in second chances,” Murphy adds. “And frankly, I think we’re a nation built on giving people second chances – and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.”

Meanwhile, Murphy and Kardashian hope to meet Jackson together in the near future and take him out to dinner. But for now, Kardashian is finishing law school.

Related: Kim Kardashian Announces New True Crime Show After Apparently Helping Free 17 People From Prison

“I’m on my last course, which is a five-year journey for me,” she says. “And at the end of this year, I’m taking my final bar exam, and I’m just going to focus on that. But we will never stop focusing on the cases we work on and finding ways to amplify them.

More information about applying for a pardon or commutation is available on the New Jersey Department of Corrections website.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected with a certified crisis counselor.

Read the original article on People