When Matthew Charles was sent back to prison in May, it wasn't because he had done anything wrong.

In fact, for the past two years, Charles, 51, had been rebuilding his life in Nashville, Tennessee after 21 years in federal prison. After his sentence was reduced and he was released in 2016, he had gotten a steady job, an apartment and a car. He volunteered at a food pantry every Saturday, went to church every Sunday and had even started dating.

He was a model citizen, completely rehabilitated – something even the Department of Justice noted. Despite his rehabilitation, the DOJ chose to appeal his early release and won before the Court of Appeals. At the moment, Charles is being held in Kentucky, awaiting his placement in a federal prison. Following a deadline given to him by a judge – with 45 days to sort out his affairs – Charles turned himself in on May 14.

He is set to complete his original sentence by spending the next nine years in prison. He will be in his 60s when he is released again, having spent 35 years in prison for drug charges from 1996.

Though he is seeking a review of the Court of Appeals’ decision before the US Supreme Court, he will also be filing a clemency petition with the White House. His lawyer says he hopes to have the petition filed by the end of this week, in the hopes of getting Charles out of prison as quickly as possible, much like the case of Alice Johnson.

Johnson's life sentence for nonviolent drug charges was commuted by President Donald Trump on June 6, one week after Kim Kardashian met with the President in the White House and encouraged him to do so.

Matthew Charles, 51, (pictured with his girlfriend Naomi Tharpe) was convicted on crack charges in 1996 and was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison, due to mandatory sentence minimums at the time. After Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010, Charles sought a reduced sentence and a judge who reviewed his case granted him early release. Charles was released on parole in 2016, nine years early, to a halfway house in Nashville, Tennessee

Over the past two years, Charles worked to rebuild his life. He got a steady job, found a place to live, bought a car, volunteered every Saturday and went to church every Sunday. He was completely rehabilitated - something even the DOJ noted. Charles is pictured at a surprise party his girlfriend Ms Tharpe threw in his honor before he had to go back to prison

Kim Kardashian, who has 60.2million followers on Twitter, tweeted about Charles in May, just two days before she met with President Trump in the White House to discuss prison reform and Alice Johnson's prison sentence

ALICE JOHNSON'S 1997 MANDATORY LIFE SENTENCE FOR DRUGS AND HOW KIM K URGED TRUMP TO COMMUTE IT Alice Johnson, 63, was given a life sentence for first-time nonviolent drug offenses in 1997 based on mandatory minimum sentencing. President Donald Trump commuted her sentence on June 6, one week after Kim Kardashian met with him in the White House and encouraged him to do so. Johnson became involved in a drug syndicate that imported cocaine into Memphis, Tennessee where she acted as a go-between and passed on messages to drug dealers by telephone. However, she claims she never directly sold drugs. She was arrested along with 15 others in 1993 on charges including conspiracy to possess cocaine, attempted possession of cocaine and money laundering. Ten of her alleged co-conspirators turned against her in exchange for reduced sentencing or dropped charges. Johnson was convicted in 1996. At the time of her sentencing in 1997, federal laws mandated a life sentence because of the amount of drugs and money involved, despite the fact that Johnson was a first-time nonviolent offender. During her time in prison, Johnson displayed exemplary behavior, become an ordained minister, a published writer and a prison tutor, a biography from Can Do Clemency reports. She had gained a large following of people pushing for her to be granted clemency. Part of this push saw her story turned into a short video, which went viral on social media. Kim Kardashian saw the video and retweeted it to her millions of followers with the caption: 'This is so unfair' in October last year. She met with President Trump on May 30 to discuss Johnson's case and prison reform. Johnson was 21 years into her sentence at FCI Aliceville, in Aliceville, Alabama before it was commuted by President Donald Trump on June 6. A grateful Johnson penned a moving letter to Kardashian, saying her efforts were 'literally helping to save my life'. 'I was drowning, and you have thrown me a life jacket and given me hope,' she wrote. Johnson has five children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Advertisement

Kardashian, who has 60.2million followers on Twitter, also tweeted about Charles' case on May 28th, saying: 'This man is sentenced to 35 yrs for selling drugs. He serves over 21 yrs, is released, finds a job, new relationship, starts a new life, & now is being sent back for another 10 yrs because the original release was an error. This man has completely rehabilitated himself. So sad.'

Shon Hopwood, the lawyer representing Charles in his clemency appeal, says he thinks the President is Charles' best chance for release since the criminal justice system has so clearly fallen short.

'It's a failure all the way around,' Mr Hopwood tells DailyMail.com. 'It's a failure that he was given 35 years to begin with for a drug offense. It's a failure that when it was very obvious that Matthew had changed his life around in prison, even though he's no longer a danger and is completely changed his character, it wouldn't lead to one day early release. And it's a failure the Department of Justice recognizes rehabilitation but wouldn't cut him free. But I'm hopeful that the President will rectify these failures and send him home.'

Today, Mr Hopwood and Charles' girlfriend, Naomi Tharpe, will be attending the Families for Justice Reform Now rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, organized by FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums). Tomorrow, the two will meet with Tennessee senators, Mr Hopwood says.

Charles grew up in Lexington, North Carolina and according toNashville Public Radio, his father was abusive. By 1996, Charles was sentenced to 35 years in prison on charges of crack cocaine distribution, at a time when the crack-to-cocaine ratio for criminal charges was 100 to 1. That meant that punishment for one gram of crack was equivalent to the punishment for 100 grams of cocaine, despite the fact that the two are just different forms of the same drug.

It didn't help that, as a previous felon, he was also charged for weapons possession and had previously been labeled as a career criminal for previous convictions including domestic assault, kidnapping and shooting a man in the head, CBS reported.

However, it was because of mandatory sentencing for crack-related charges that meant Charles faced at least 30 years in prison. He was sentenced to 35.

Before his trial, according to WPLN, another inmate gave Charles a Bible. As he read it, he told the station, his life was changed. While he was in prison, he became a law clerk, taught classes and worked on a college degree, WPLN reported, and never had even a minor disciplinary mark on his record in the 21 years he spent there.

In 2010, The Fair Sentencing Act was passed by Congress. The act reduced the sentencing gap between crack and cocaine charges. On that basis, Charles sought a reduced sentence. The federal judge who reviewed his case released Charles on parole to a halfway house in 2016, nine years early.

Alice Johnson, 63, (right) was given a life sentence for first-time nonviolent drug offenses in 1997 based on mandatory minimum sentencing. President Donald Trump commuted her sentence on June 6, one week after Kim Kardashian (left) met with him in the White House and encouraged him to do so. The two are pictured together on June 13

Johnson had gained a large following of people pushing for her to be granted clemency while she was in prison. Part of this push saw her story turned into a short video, which went viral on social media. Kim Kardashian saw the video and retweeted it to her millions of followers with the caption: 'This is so unfair' in October last year. She met with President Trump on May 30 (pictured)

Prosecutors appealed Charles' early release on the basis that he (pictured with Ms Tharpe) had already been labeled a career offender and was not eligible for a reduced sentence. According to the 6th Circuit's opinion, Charles' reduced sentence was unlawful and the judge who granted it made a mistake, despite his rehabilitation

He was able to rebuild his life outside of prison by getting a job – first at a record store and then as a driver with his own car, according to WPLN – going to church every Sunday and volunteering every Saturday with a food pantry in Nashville called The Little Pantry That Could.

The pantry's director Stacy Downey says Charles has been an invaluable member of her volunteer team since he started back in 2016, while he was still at the halfway house. Charles was not court ordered to volunteer, but chose to volunteer anyways and 'he quickly became a part of our family,' Ms Downey tells DailyMail.com.

'He's like the rock of our core group [of volunteers],' she says. 'He's missed one Saturday since he got out. One Saturday. And that's when he went to see his grandkids in the Carolinas.'

Even among the 'shoppers' or customers at The Little Pantry That Could, Charles became a central part of their experience. When he started volunteering, Ms Downey assigned him to help people carry their groceries to their car or homes, which could mean walking a few miles carrying heavy bags.

Charles eventually just started doing other things around the pantry where he saw need and as he became more of a presence at the pantry, Ms Downey asked him to mentor the younger volunteers, many of whom came in through community corrections and the courts.

'They come in with these horrible attitudes, they don't want to be here,' she says. 'And this place, it's very important. It's all about the interactions with our guests and so it's really important, you've got to have a good attitude to be here.

'So I would just look at Mr Charles and I would say, "Mr Charles, can you talk to this young man?" He knew exactly what I meant after a little time. And this sullen 20-year-old would come back, every time, this amazing volunteer. And I asked [Mr Charles] what are you telling them? He said, "I'm telling them that they're here for these people. And that this is a great responsibility for them. And it's a great honor for them to be able to do this for these folks who are hurting and in worse shape than you".'

She adds: 'He's got this amazing calm demeanor and this way with people and so he has led the group, the whole team of men, maybe 15 or 20 of them every week, who will learn how to take care of our guests… He is sorely, sorely missed.'

Charles (pictured at his surprise party) was ordered to report back to prison on May 14th and he is still being held in a prison in Kentucky. Though he is seeking a review of the Court of Appeals’ decision before the US Supreme Court, he will also be filing a clemency petition with the White House

Charles (pictured) grew up in Lexington, North Carolina and according to Nashville Public Radio, his father was abusive. By 1996, Charles was sentenced to 35 years in prison on charges of crack cocaine distribution, at a time when the crack-to-cocaine ratio for criminal charges was 100 to 1. That meant that punishment for one gram of crack was equivalent to the punishment for 100 grams of cocaine, despite the fact that the two are just different forms of the same drug

During his first months out of prison, Charles started talking with a woman named Naomi Tharpe. They met online and talked for a few months over the phone before meeting in person, but early on Ms Tharpe had decided they were just going to be friends. Charles had been very open with her about his situation – he was staying at a halfway house at the time – and his background and Ms Tharpe wasn't too keen on dating someone with a criminal history. She did agree to keep talking to him because she figured he needed a friend, but she was cautious.

'I don't know anybody that's changed their life around like he has,' she tells DailyMail.com. 'Just hearing him talk every day, I didn't get any signs at all that there was a criminal still within him. You know how sometimes you can pick up on something? … I'm looking for something that's like, okay, he's not what he says he is… [But] he's very conscious of the way that he conducts himself.'

Then one day he invited Ms Tharpe to go to church with him and have dinner afterwards, which they did – still as friends. Then, Ms Tharpe says, they started doing that every Sunday and their 'friendship' came to the point where they were talking every night when Charles walked home from work.

'He would just share with me the things that he was seeing,' she says. 'It was like a blind person being able to see. Things that we take [for granted] and don't think anything of, he would just share with me… So I was just listening to his heart, his perspective on stuff, and I'm like, wow he's different.'

She adds: 'God has just really touched him. That's the only way that I can explain it because he's made me more conscious of the way that I say and do things.'

Eventually, the two decided to start dating and they haven't looked back since – even since Charles went back to prison.

'We're comfortable with each other, we can talk about whatever,' Ms Tharpe says. 'We just have a way of communicating with each other… It's so different from the way I'm used to communicating with men… I just so appreciate the way that he thinks and the way that he does things. It's just, it's inspiring.'

In the background, however, there was always the looming threat of Charles’ re-imprisonment.

It didn't help that, as a previous felon, he was also charged for weapons possession and had previously been labeled as a career criminal for previous convictions including domestic assault, kidnapping and shooting a man in the head, CBS reported. However, it was because of mandatory sentencing for crack-related charges that meant Charles faced at least 30 years in prison. He was sentenced to 35

Almost immediately after his release in 2016, the judge’s decision to reduce Charles’ sentence was appealed by the prosecutor, based on the fact that he had been labeled a career offender when he was originally sentenced in 1996, and therefore not eligible for a reduced sentence. According to the 6th Circuit opinion, Charles’ reduced sentence was unlawful and the judge who granted it made a mistake.

Mr Hopwood says: 'However, once the judge is re-sentencing him and everyone knows this man has been out for two years and done everything right, it would have been very easy for DOJ to say, you know what, his continued confinement, especially for nine or ten more years, does not serve the purpose of justice when you look at his entire record. And they could have dismissed the charges and just let him walk. And the judge implored them to and they still wouldn't.'

'The reason why they wouldn't dismiss charges when the judged asked is, they think that the rule of law should apply equally and should apply here,' he adds. 'But there's a problem with that argument, because federal prosecutors have the power to dismiss and charge cases every day and I know every day there are people that break federal law that US Attorneys decide not to prosecute.

'So if you have complete and absolute prosecutorial discretion, you can't then come in and say, "Oh, we're just following the rule of law", because if that's the same argument, you should be charging everyone for everything under federal law that you can. But that's not really how prosecutorial discretion works and the DOJ could have just let Matthew go. I don't know why they didn't.'

The Department of Justice pointed to court filings and declined to elaborate further in the matter, when DailyMail.com reached out for comment.

Before his trial, according to WPLN , another inmate gave Charles a Bible. As he read it, he told the station, his life was changed. While he was in prison, he became a law clerk, taught classes and worked on a college degree, WPLN reported, and never had even a minor disciplinary mark on his record in the 21 years he spent there

When he got out of prison in 2016, he started talking to Naomi Tharpe (pictured) and was very open with her about his past. She says: 'I don't know anybody that's changed their life around like he has. Just hearing him talk every day, I didn't get any signs at all that there was a criminal still within him. You know how sometimes you can pick up on something? … I'm looking for something that's like, okay, he's not what he says he is… [But] he's very conscious of the way that he conducts himself'

Even at the beginning of their friendship, Charles was upfront with Ms Tharpe about the possibility of his being re-incarcerated. But she says she didn't quite understand that he could actually go back to prison until several months later. By the time he was actually ordered to go back to prison – which took a while because of how long appeals can take – Ms Tharpe says the couple were able to keep a positive attitude.

'Because of the way that Matthew is, I heard it, I understood it, but we didn't give it any time. We didn't even allow that to interrupt anything… We kept it in the background. We didn't really make it a part of our life... I mean he would share with me what appeal was out there, what motion was out there. We'd talk about it, I'd do a little silent prayer and we kept it moving. We didn't give it a lot of time.'

Even now, about seven weeks after he turned himself in, Ms Tharpe says he's staying strong. The two talk every day and once a week, Ms Tharpe goes to visit Charles where he is currently being held in Kentucky, about two hours away from Nashville.

The couple are allowed only 15-minute phone calls and visits, Ms Tharpe says. And despite a recent agreement to only talk every other day – since the calls have gotten expensive – the days they aren't supposed to talk, Charles still calls for just six minutes to say goodnight.

Even though they're disappointed, Ms Tharpe says they've stayed as positive as they can.

'His spirits are so good,' she says. 'It's amazing. And I pull my strength from him. We're not down.'

Ms Downey, however, says his re-imprisonment has taken a toll on the community, particularly at The Little Pantry That Could.

'It's been devastating,' she says. 'A lot of our guests… they're so used to seeing him and a lot of them would request him… And now that he's not here – these are folks who have some real challenges. They are facing some bad stuff and he really had a way of turning their day around. They would literally wait all week to see him and talk to him and now he's not here.'

Even the other volunteers – many of whom were positively influenced by Charles' mentorship – have been affected. Ms Downey says they all looked to him to see how, even after 21 years in prison, he was able to have success and live a positive life.

'He was the thing that they aspired to be and to have,' she says. 'And they saw him doing everything right and now they see that it didn't matter at all… I can see a real change in the attitudes and people are hurt and they don't understand. That was a huge thing to do. I'm talking about probably 100 kids a week come through here. It's just wrong.'

He also volunteered every Saturday with a food pantry in Nashville called The Little Pantry That Could. The pantry's director Stacy Downey says Charles has been an invaluable member of her volunteer team since he started while he was still at the halfway house. Charles was not court ordered to volunteer, but chose to volunteer anyways and 'he quickly became a part of our family,' Ms Downey says. Charles and Ms Tharpe are pictured

Ms Tharpe says she knows Charles will get out of prison because 'that's not where he belongs'.

'I don't know when, but I can't accept that he's going to stay there… I know in my heart that that's not what's going to happen. Something else is going to intervene and it's not going to happen that way.'

According Mr Hopwood, Charles' best hope is executive clemency. Mr Hopwood says he hopes to file Charles' clemency petition by the end of the week, but says the White House can get Charles out of prison with or without the petition. He says he already sent a three-page letter to the White House giving reasons why Charles should be granted clemency including, Charles never had even a minor disciplinary mark on his record in 21 years in federal prison and then when he did get out he was a model citizen.

'There's no argument that we need to keep Matthew Charles in prison for another nine years to protect the public,' Mr Hopwood says. 'And it's obvious he has already served a significant amount of punishment. 21 years in federal prison for a drug crime is ridiculous. He served adequate punishment and he's no longer a danger to the community. And even the Department of Justice recognizes that. They filed a brief in the 6th Circuit a couple of weeks ago where they said he should never have been re-sentenced by the judge, but we acknowledge his rehabilitation and he makes a compelling case for executive clemency.'

According to The New York Times, US Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, Donald Q. Cochran wrote in a briefing: 'As the government has previously noted, Charles's evident rehabilitation is commendable, and may well provide a compelling basis for executive clemency'.

But it's uncertain when Charles would be offered clemency. Mr Hopwood says it could take a day or another two years.

'The hope is that they move quickly because if Matthew were released quickly, he could still go back to his original job back in Nashville. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be. It will be like coming back out for the first time again.'

According Shon Hopwood, Charles' lawyer for his clemency petition, Charles' best hope is executive clemency. Though Mr Hopwood is filing a clemency petition, he says the White House could get Charles out of prison before that. 'The hope is that they move quickly because if Matthew were released quickly, he could still go back to his original job back in Nashville,' Mr Hopwood says. 'The longer this goes on, the harder it will be. It will be like coming back out for the first time again'

Even as Ms Tharpe has hope for her boyfriend to be released, she also believes that there is a greater purpose to Charles' re-imprisonment – for prison reform that will benefit more than just him. She says: 'This is not just about Matthew Charles. I think just getting the story out there and people understanding that there are people who have actually changed their lived and they're incarcerated. And yes, I want Matthew out ASAP, but we really do want to help other people that are in the same situation'

Ms Downey says this is an issue of justice and that by ordering Charles back to prison, the system has failed at its ultimate purpose.

'We ask our justice system to keep people who are not good for society, to keep them in a place where they won't hurt society and to send them back when they are better people and productive people who can live among us. We don't even as for people to be model citizens, we just ask for people to now commit crimes and not hurt people. And here comes this man, back from our criminal justice system, who's way more than just a good, average citizen. I mean, [he's] a complete asset to the community… And this is what happened.

'I can't even tell you how disheartening that is. But I want to focus on the positive and just say that our community needs Mr Charles back… He's something that people are looking to see… some hope that the system is right and that it can right itself after a wrong.'

Even as Ms Tharpe has hope for her boyfriend to be released, she also believes that there is a greater purpose to Charles' re-imprisonment – for prison reform that will benefit more than just him.

'This is not just about Matthew Charles. I think just getting the story out there and people understanding that there are people who have actually changed their lived and they're incarcerated. And yes, I want Matthew out ASAP, but we really do want to help other people that are in the same situation.'

'It's going to help other people, I know it is,' she says later. 'He's going to get out and they're going to change the laws. Because they're not right. I mean, he's not the only person that's in this situation. So that's our hope and our prayers.'

She adds: 'We're going to do this together. 'Cause he's getting out.'