Cyntoia Brown has taken over the media over the past couple of months; the story of her prison sentence took over the country.
Cyntoia Brown is a current Tennessee inmate that has spent over 20 years in prison and is finally being released. Brown was only 16 when a 43-year-old male solicited her for prostitution. She was taken to his house, where she was shown many weapons and her abuser became violent. According to Refinery29.com, she took the situation into her own hands, and on August 7, 2004, Brown shot her abuser in self-defense.
Before the shooting, Brown grew up in a foster home and ended up running away. In 2004, she met the man who would later force her into prostitution. Later that year, Brown was scheduled to meet the man she would later kill in an effort to escape what would become her reality. When things got dangerous, she shot him. She was then convicted to life in prison.
In 2017, her case became very public. A lot of different celebrities heard about the case and started retweeting tweets regarding it. In 2018, Kim Kardashian went public about working on a case for Alice Johnson. Johnson was convicted for a nonviolent drug conviction and was sentenced to life in prison. When Kardashian heard about the case, she started doing everything that she could to meet with the president to grant her clemency. Kardashian was able to get Johnson clemency, and she is now home with her family following her shortened sentence. Clemency can only be granted by a governor for state crimes and by a president for federal crimes. The governor of Tennessee, Bill Haslam, granted her clemency.
“With God’s help, I am committed to living the rest of my life helping others, especially young people. My hope is to help other young girls avoid ending up where I have been,” Brown said to the tennessean.com.
This case gave a lot of other incarcerated people hope for being granted clemency as well, and that dream came true for Brown. On January 7, 2019, Brown was granted clemency and her life sentence will now end on August 7, 2019.