Alice Johnson feels ‘resurrected from the dead’ after life sentence commuted by Donald Trump

Alice Marie Johnson has been released from federal prison hours after her life sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump.

Footage from Alabama news station WVTM-13 shows Johnson running toward her family, throwing her arms open wide and embracing them in front of a crowd of onlookers.

Her release was confirmed by Jennifer Turner of the American Civil Liberties Union, who is part of Johnson’s legal team.

WATCH: Donald Trump commutes Alice Johnson’s sentence 1 week after Kim Kardashian meeting

Johnson, 63, had spent more than two decades behind bars, serving life without parole for drug offenses. She was convicted in 1996 on eight criminal counts related to a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation.

Her case had been championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, who met with Trump in the Oval Office last week.

Another attorney, Brittany K. Barnett, said earlier that Johnson feels overwhelmed with emotion and like she’s been “resurrected from the dead.”

WATCH: U.S. senator says commutation of Alice Johnson ‘shouldn’t take’ Kim Kardashian visiting White House

A lawyer for Kardashian West described the moment Johnson found out President Donald Trump had commuted her sentence.

Shawn Holley, who accompanied Kardashian West to the White House last week, says that Kardashian West was the one who told Johnson she was being released in a phone call.

Holley says in a statement that she, “just got off the most wonderful, emotional and amazing phone call with Alice, Kim and Alice’s lawyers.”

She says that once Johnson’s family joined the call, “the tears never stopped flowing.”

READ MORE: Donald Trump commutes Alice Johnson’s sentence 1 week after meeting with Kim Kardashian

The White House says in a statement that Johnson “has accepted responsibility for her past behavior and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades,” working to rehabilitate herself and acting as a mentor to fellow inmates.

They note her warden, case manager, and vocational training instructor have all written letters in support of her clemency.

Kardashian West is also responding to the decision, tweeting “BEST NEWS EVER!!!!” She visited the White House last week of press Johnson’s case.