Cyntoia Brown-Long was sentenced to life in prison before she ever got a driver’s license or was old enough to vote. The prisoner-turned-activist spoke at Blackburn College in Carlinville April 3, then signed copies of her memoir in the lobby. The state legislature in Brown-Long’s native Tennessee has just made a significant change to the law dealing with juvenile sentencing because of her story and her advocacy. She has accomplished much since leaving prison in 2019.
Brown-Long told the crowd at Bothwell Auditorium that she wasn’t the kind of kid that you’d think would get into big trouble: A bit introverted, stable family life, typical middle-class values. But as the mixed-race, adopted child of Black parents, she often felt alienated and out of place at school. She was teased by other children and didn’t always behave the way she should. Brown-Long accumulated a collection of petty infractions for acts such as shaking a stop sign at a school bus stop. She started spending increasing periods of time in in-school suspension instead of in a classroom, putting her further behind and making it more difficult for her to care about her education.
Brown-Long ran away at the age of 13 and lived on the streets with an adult man known as Cut, – short for cutthroat – whom she originally thought of as her boyfriend but now says was her pimp. He trafficked her to many other men, until she shot and killed a 43-year-old man who had picked her up for sex. She was 16 years old.
After about four years in prison and consumed with despair, Brown-Long had the good fortune to meet an adult who saw potential in her and insisted that she improve herself by taking advantage of free courses offered in the prison by Lipscomb University. She earned a bachelor’s degree, and during her studies became convinced that God was guiding her. “People tried to define me by my worst decisions and darkest moments,” she said.
Brown-Long was a model prisoner and became a mentor to other inmates. She prayed and she appealed. She wrote her memoir. Her cause was taken up by celebrities like Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and LeBron James. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam eventually commuted her sentence and she was released in 2019.
Since her release from prison, Brown-Long has received a Best of Justice Reform award from the Vera Institute of Justice, was nominated for the NAACP Literary Image Award and received the 2022 Leadership Prize from the Juvenile Law Center for her work in advocating for justice-involved youth. The Tennessee Supreme Court reduced mandatory jail sentences for juveniles by half, in part because of Brown-Long’s advocacy.
After her lecture, Brown-Long was interviewed on stage by Blackburn’s chair of the Leadership, Law and Public Service department, Dr. Laura Wiedlocher. When Wiedlocher asked what ought to be changed about the juvenile justice system in America, Brown-Long didn’t hesitate. “We need to quit trying kids criminally as adults. We know they aren’t adults, because the science tells us their brains aren’t fully developed. We don’t allow them to drink, we don’t allow them to vote, we don’t allow them to smoke or drive. We shouldn’t allow them to spend 51 years in prison.”
Brown-Long said she finds it ironic that society believes that an abused, misbehaving dog can be retrained, but that children cannot. She also criticized the overuse of psychotropic drugs to control imprisoned adolescents, rather than listening to them and counseling them. “You can’t rely upon the pills they’re feeding you,” she said, “because once they take them away, what are you going to do?”
Brown-Long co-founded the JFAM Foundation with her husband, Jaime, whom she met and married while in prison. Together they advocate for individuals affected by human trafficking, youth services involvement and incarceration.
Don Howard is an intern at Illinois Times while completing his master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting at University of Illinois Springfield. He can be reached at dhoward@illinoistimes.com or 336-455-6966.
This article appears in Spring Home & Garden 2023.
