Outrageous: 16 y/o sex slave. A survivor. Terrified. Killed her last purchaser. Ineligible for release for 51 years.
For those asking: This was the Tennessee Supreme Court’s decision *on appeal.* She’s been incarcerated since 2004 when she was 16. She’s now in her 30s. Will have to serve 37 more years.
What about those Supreme Court decisions overruling life w/o parole sentences for juveniles? Her lawyers argued in 2012 that her sentence was “de facto life w/o parole.” Court disagreed. Bc she was technically eligible for release (even though a lifetime later) that was that.
Feeling deeply frustrated by an inability to do something RIGHT NOW for Cyntoia? Think about purchasing warm clothes from this wish list in her name, which we will be distributing directly to clients currently freezing on Rikers Island: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls…
Critical perspective: “While she was coerced into sex work, Cyntoia never described herself as a child sex slave. Sensationalist language is reductionist & obscures the complexities inherent in experiences of young people in sex trade & street economies.” theappeal.org/not-a-cardboar…
