Cyntoia Brown lost part of the first 15 years of her life to a man who forced her to sell her body to fill his pockets.

And, when at age 16, she killed one of the men who bought her, Brown could have wasted the rest of her life in prison.

But women like Charisse Scott, founder and CEO of SisterReach, a Memphis reproductive justice organization, wanted to stop that from happening.

So, SisterReach wrote a letter to Gov.Bill Haslam last year urging him to release Brown, while SisterReach's youth ambassadors sent letters of encouragement to her, Scott said.

This week, efforts by Scott and others, like pop star Rihanna and reality show star Kim Kardashian West, paid off.

Haslam granted clemency to Brown, who is now 30. She'll be released in eight months. After that, she'll have 10 years of parole ahead of her.

Nonetheless, she'll be out.

"Her case resonated with me because we work to prevent the exploitation of girls' body's and lives," said Scott, who also said she was surprised that Haslam granted clemency to Brown.

"But I want people to understand that personal piety, failure to humanize black and brown people, all those things played a role in how Cyntoia Brown was treated..."

Brown spent 13 years in prison for fatally shooting 43-year-old Johnny Allen, a real estate agent, in Nashville in 2004.

When Brown shot Allen, he was in bed with her, and naked. She said he frightened her with his talk of guns, and the way he kept getting in and out of bed. Prosecutors, however, said Brown shot him to steal his car, his money and his guns.

But sending Brown to prison for most of her life for a crime she committed as a teenager — an act driven by her own victimization and youthful desperation — would have shown that the state values justice for predators more than justice for the children who they prey upon.

That’s why Haslam’s decision to grant Brown clemency was wise.

And that’s one reason Brown’s case has resonated not only with Scott, but with Raumesh Akbari, a state senator from Memphis who also pushed for her release, and Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who also advocated on her behalf.

“Cyntoia’s story could have been anybody’s story,” Sawyer said. “Sex trafficking is the second-fastest growing crime in the state, and her case forces us to look at how we’re going to address these problems at home.”

Tennessee lawmakers have also focused more on the problem of human trafficking in recent years, even passing a law that creates a way for juveniles to have their records expunged if a crime they committed stemmed from being trafficked.

But what if Brown had remained incarcerated until she was 67 — the age when she would have been eligible for parole? If that happened, it would tell other teenagers trapped between fear of their trafficker and fear of whoever buys them that if they see violence as their only escape, they could wind up paying the price.

Denying Brown clemency would have run counter to the state’s efforts to discourage human trafficking. And keeping her locked up would not only have been a waste of taxpayer’s money, but a waste of a life that never got a fair start.

"We've got to do more to protect girls in Tennessee," Scott said. "Women and girls in our state are more vulnerable to be victims of traffickers because they are least likely to be protected."

Said Sawyer: “We want to save our girls. Girls who look like us, and girls who deserve a second chance."

Women like Scott, Akbari, Sawyer and others are working on that front. And they can claim Brown's clemency as an early victory.

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Tonyaa Weathersbee can be reached at tonyaa.weathersbee@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @tonyaajw.

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