Cyntoia Brown, the former sex slave who spent half of her life in prison for killing a man in self-defense, is getting a major gift along with her release from prison after 15 years in confinement.
Brown walked out of the Tennessee Department of Corrections for the first time as a free woman on Wednesday morning, Aug. 7, 2019, CNN reports. Brown has also secured a book deal with Atria Books, according to the Seattle Times, that will enable her to chronicle her harrowing life as the uncaged prisoner of a pimp who beat and abused her then sold her on the streets of Tennessee.
Brown, now 31, was just 16 when she was tried as an adult and given two life prison sentences after shooting and killing one of the johns, Johnny Michael Allen, who she believed was going to kill her. Allen had purchased Brown for $150 from her pimp who went by the name “Cut Throat.”
Her case first gained national attention and widespread support when director Dan Birman produced the documentary Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story. The film not only looked her life as a young teen forced into prostitution, but it also shined a needed spotlight on prison reform and how the system at large has failed many kids who face similar circumstances like Brown.
Brown, who obtained her GED, bachelor’s and master’s degree inside the Tennessee Department of Corrections, previously said she planned to work with at-risk youth when she gained her freedom, which she now has.
