Civil Brand

Man: you know, winning this case is a...

It's a real victory, Sabrina.

You ain't gotta tell me that, Mr. Reynolds.

I know.

Man. mmm, mmm, mmm.

There's a lot of young people going to prison these days.

Some of them need to be there.

Some of them don't.

You know, it's the background story that's the real winner.

And--and that's what everybody's gonna want to hear.

Prison ain't no joke, though.

Wanna know how I know?

'Cause I been in and out of jail since I was 15 years old.

Heh. but ain't nothin' like the experience i had at whitehead.

I know what you want.

But I'm gonna tell you the story my way.

I lived this.

Being in this motherfucker changed my life.

Woman: damn. Look at my nails.

You know I gets my shit done every week.

Don't play.

Damn. shit, bitch, you need to be looking at that hair.

Hey, bitch, fuck you. Fuck y'all.

First of all, y'all motherfuckers is crazy,

'cause you ain't gonna be gettin' that shit done

no time soon. Nails, hair, toes,

none of that shit.

You gonna be scraping them motherfuckers

up against the wall and shit.

What did y'all-- y'all niggers kill somebody?

Hell, yeah. Yeah.

Aw, hell no.

I ain't kill me nobody.

They got the wrong motherfucker.

They got the wrong Sabrina downs.

It could be, like, 13 of me in the whole fuckin' world.

It's a bunch of motherfuckers in America.

And I know motherfuckers light-skinned and wear braids and shit

like me, you know what I'm saying?

Everybody wanna put me in jail.

Bitch, I will jump over this motherfucker

and choke your ass. Well, what's up?

Bitch! oh, my--wait till we get to the motherfucking prison.

You ain't gonna do shit. You just wait.

She said she ain't kill nobody.

Oh, your wannabe innocent ass!

You ain't done shit either, bitch.

You pickin' some cotton some motherfuckin' where

and got in trouble.

You just here 'cause they want your ass here.

You ain't special.

Hey. if you, like, hold your arms back--

god, girl.

Thanks.

It's cool.

And that's how I met Frances Shepard.

Officer: from this moment on,

you're the property of the whitehead correctional institution.

My name is captain Alan dease.

Remember my name.

And I promise you, you will never forget my face.

All right, ladies, listen up.

You will not be able to eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom

without permission.

And I'm gonna say this once...

And only once.

Carry your prison I.D. With you at all times.

Failure to do so...

Will result in disciplinary action.

You shall not engage in gambling,

substance abuse, or illegal sexual acts.

Sabrina: Tom Nelson was the warden, right.

But that asshole dease, he ran the prison.

You shall not engage in business or commerce of any type.

He seen, like, 4 or 5 wardens come and go.

He been there for a long time.

That nigger felt like everything was his,

from the fuckin' roof to the rats.

You will not destroy or misuse state property.

Dease...asshole.

For sho'.

Any acts...

Of insurrection...

Or insubordination...

Will result in disciplinary action.

Do you understand?

Yes, sir.

Do you understand?

All: yes, sir.

Good.

Good, ladies.

We was like... His girls...Heh heh...

Living in his mother fuckin' house.

It was real fucked up.

Officer: all right, turn off the damn music.

Sabrina: now, Frances was different than the rest of us.

New inmate on the block.

She had never been in jail before.

Neither has lil' mama-- 17, pregnant,

and our resident preacher.

Nikki, this here is Frances Shepard.

Lock her into the day-to-day.

I don't want her in here.

You don't have a choice.

All she gonna learn from me is how to be an insubordinate.

right.

Lil' mama: I--i hope you'll be comfortable.

You can put your stuff up there.

Maybe I'll help you make your bed later,

clear out some space.

[Officer raps bars with night stick]

Lil' mama: Look, i--i know how you feel.

It just takes time.

Here, let me tell you who everybody is.

That right there, that's Nikki.

Don't nobody mess with her.

She's been in and out of here 2 times.

Everybody in here is scared of her

except me.

We get along.

Now, it's a little cold in here.

They don't give us no heat,

so you might wanna dress up a little bit

so you don't get sick, ok?

Hey, Frances, how you doing? I'm wet.

Come on out of that cell, girl.

You're gonna spend enough time up in there.

Enough time to make you go crazy.

Now, this here is kinda like the block.

You gotta be careful who you run with.

See them girls right there?

That's the licky-licky crew.

Now, if that's your thing, it's cool with us.

Uh-uh.

Them girls right there,

that's the o-tep girls.

O-tep! yeah!

That's my clique.

It's our job to wake everybody up.

Woman yelling in distance: Shut the fuck up!

Shut the fuck up, bitch!

See what I'm saying?

Sleepitude.

What you up in here for?

Murder.

Murder?

Don't look like a murderer.

Look like a high yellow sadiddy butch to me.

Now, look, Frances. We get up every morning at 5:30.

Then we got a little-- oh, no, no, no,

lil' mama, fuck that.

What she need to know is how they terrorizing us

up in this motherfucker.

You better protect yourself.

I didn't do anything.

It don't matter.

I got this here petition

I need you to sign.

I'm trying to get everybody to sign it, actually.

Man, on P.A.: Lock down, 2 minutes.

2 minutes to lock down.

Good night, y'all.

Come on.

See you later, wet.

All right, Frances.

They can't pay me enough money to work in this raggedy motherfucker.

Shit is crazy.

You know yvette got bit by a rat the other night?

For real?

Well, keep down about it.

You don't want to give them no reason to throw us in lock down, please.

Lock down? That shit ain't never gonna happen.

Slow down they productivity.

that's right.

Gotta keep the cash flowin' huh?

Frances, let me, uh, let you in on what's going on.

Saturday. ok.

We're in the sweatshop all day until 12 noon.

Then it's a hour in the yard,

then it's chow. Then it's back to cleaning up,

unloading the truck, helping with dinner.

Then we only got an hour on the phone.

We only get paid $1.50 a day.

I know it don't sound right, but that's the way it is.

No, that can't be right. That's illegal.

Hell, no, that shit ain't illegal.

Slave-driving motherfuckers.

All right, ladies. Time to earn your keep.

Welcome to the plantation, sister Frances.

So, Frances.

What happened with you? How'd you get in here?

I killed my husband.

It was an accident.

Oh, really?

Hmph. I killed my stepfather,

but it wasn't no accident.

You got any kids?

Yeah, I have one.