Kim Kardashian's First Freed Inmate Raves About White House Appearance

Kim Kardashian definitely earned her title as Princess of Prison Reform ... using her celebrity status for good has yielded nothing but positive results, so says one of her freed prisoners.

The first prisoner released under the First Step Act -- Matthew Charles -- showered Kim with praise when we ran into him on Capitol Hill. As we reported, Kim not only helped secure his release ... she's covered the next 5 years of rent while he gets back on his feet.

Kim was front and center at The White House Thursday to unveil her latest prison reform initiative -- a rideshare partnership that allows inmates to travel to job interviews. The end game is to make them productive citizens rather than recidivists.

Kim's been a big help by writing checks so various lawyers and prison reform groups can do their thing ... and they have done their thing with success, recently freeing more than 17 inmates and counting. These are mostly inmates who are serving long terms for non-violent -- mostly drug -- offenses.