INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY PRESENTS WORLD
TELEVISION PREMIERE OF AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY SIN
BY SILENCE
~ Nearly 80 Percent
of Female Prison Population Are Survivors of Domestic
Violence ~
October 2011
(Silver Spring, MD) – Over
the last 25 years, women have represented the fastest
growing prison population in America, with nearly 80
percent of those incarcerated being survivors of domestic
violence as victims of rape, incest, forced prostitution,
and other exploitation. In many cases, the abuse sparked
their path toward prison.
With unprecedented access
inside California’s oldest women’s prison, the California
Institution for Women, SIN BY SILENCE is a gateway into
the lives of women who are domestic violence’s worst-case
scenarios: women who have killed their abusers and,
due in part to state laws prohibiting legal defense
from including evidence of battering, are now behind
bars. In support of National Domestic Violence Awareness
Month, Investigation Discovery presents the world television
premiere of the award-winning documentary SIN BY SILENCE
on Monday, October 17, at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
Inside the California Institution
for Women, convicted domestic violence survivor Brenda
Clubine created the first inmate-initiated and inmate-led
group to help abused women, Convicted Women Against
Abuse (CWAA). Created in 1989 to help convicted domestic
violence survivors in prison break the silence about
abuse, SIN BY SILENCE tells the personal and shocking
stories of this extraordinary group of courageous women
who advocate for a future free from domestic violence.
Brenda Clubine endured broken
bones and skull fractures – her face bruised and battered.
By the time she was put behind bars for killing her
husband in 1983, she felt worthless. She received a
sentence of 15 years to life and had to give up her
son for adoption. She thought she was the only woman
in her situation, but Brenda soon discovered that she
shared the common experience of love turning violent
with many of her fellow inmates.
After years of meeting in
the prison yard and telling each other their whispered
stories, Brenda started CWAA, and her revelation inspired
a support group – the first group of its kind in the
entire U.S. prison system. Over the past 22 years, since
the group was established, many familiar faces remain
and are featured in the film.
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