WINN

(pensive music) - What are my memories of prison?

My memories of prison are just of loss.

That's it.

Dark, empty.

Four walls of nothing.

Go ahead.

Stop being nosy, go on outside.

A lot of people don't really know what shackling is.

This is shackling.

The person in my drawing doesn't have a face because it would be too many faces to put there, because it's not just something that happened to me, it's something that happens to lots of women.

(dramatic music) - [All] Empathy.

- [Interviewer] And what are you hoping to change?

- I'm hoping to stop shackling of incarcerated women that are pregnant in Georgia.

We have these stereotypes of what an incarcerated person looks like, but I'm here to tell you that an incarcerated person looks like the person that's next to you.

Empathy is knowing that incarcerated people in America are people just like you.

They feel just like you.

They love just like you.

They breathe just like you do.

When I got arrested and I had my first physical during intake, that's when I found out that I was pregnant.

(pensive music) Although they knew I was pregnant, they would still put a chain around my belly, and they would put shackles on my ankles as well.

And one of the days heading out to court, stepping into the van, you know, I misstep and I fell.

(chains clink) After the fall, I started sending medical requests, stating that I was having problems.

And for a couple of weeks they went unanswered, and then finally they gave me the courtesy of being honest with me and letting me know that the facility was basically built for men.

They didn't anticipate having women, and they could do nothing for me.

(pensive music) (pensive music continues) My call today is with the Georgia Birth Advocacy Coalition.

My part of the conversation is gonna be what it always is, because when these conversations come about, they always forget the incarcerated pregnant women.

And so that is the voice that I always bring into the room.

I still get the cheat, I don't have to wear clothes if I put on a scarf.

Uh, yes, I'm dressed!

(chuckles) - [GBAC Member] Pamela Winn now advocates for the rights and wellbeing of pregnant mothers and formerly incarcerated people.

She is a wonderful person to talk to about how we talk about all of the rights that pregnant people have here in Georgia, but the truth is that pregnant prisoners have almost no rights, and if you're in jail, you have- (interference drowns out GBAC member) - Oh, no.

I can't hear that now.

- [GBAC Member] Pass it over to Pamela.

- Someone is apologizing to me for my loss, I thank you so much for your concern.

I'm trying to do this without getting emotional, but it's hard.

(pensive music) Every night, we would get locked in our cells at 10 o'clock at night.

The only light that shone in just shot cross your head, you know, up high.

So you really couldn't see anything, it was very dark in the room.

On this particular day, I had not had anything to drink all day because the water in the drinking fountain was coming out brown.

I was awakened out of my sleep by the contractions, you know, moaning out in pain, and I wake the lady that was in the room with me.

And I remember her screaming in the crack of the door to the other ladies, "There's something wrong with Pam!

There's something wrong with her baby!"

(fist thumping) (woman shouting) I could hear all of the women beating on the doors, screaming to the top of their lungs, trying to get somebody's attention to come in and check on us.

I laid there, it seems like, forever.

And finally, the door opens.

(door clicks) When the door opens, it's blood everywhere.

So now, not only am I afraid for my baby, I'm afraid for myself.

The correctional staff were debating about what to do with me.

They didn't have a plan, they didn't know what to do.

And I'm like, "Please, please, please, just call 9-1-1 and get me to the doctor."

(siren wailing) (EKG beeping) When I got to the hospital, I was met by the marshals, who immediately cuffed me to the bed.

And so I spent the rest of my miscarriage shackled to the bed.

Not only shackled to the bed, but there were two male officers in the room with me that were both between my legs, that refused to give me any privacy.

(radio chattering) I remember the nurse saying to me, "Ms. Winn, you passed your baby, it's not here."

Then she asked the officers, "Where's the linen that Ms. Winn bled on?

We need that, the baby is there."

And they said to her, "Oh, we threw it in the trash."

And at that moment, my heart just sank.

And out of all the things that I had experienced and I had been through, for me, I think that had to be the lowest point for me in my life, to hear a part of me, my baby, you know, was just thrown in the trash like it was nothing.

(birds chirping) I was 25 on this picture.

Very young me.

(chuckles) My mother was in and out of jail during my childhood, and by the time I got to middle school, high school, she had developed a drug dependency, and I was pretty much responsible for caring for my brother and myself.

I have two sons.

Because of my own upbringing, it was always kinda important to me to do things differently for them.

I was always there and involved.

They were 14 and 16 when I left.

(pen scribbling) (dog panting) After the miscarriage, they took me back to the facility, and I was placed in solitary confinement that they termed, quote, unquote, medical observation.

(tense music) Going from the trauma and pain and the mental anguish of losing my baby to now being placed in solitary.

My thoughts were, these people are trying to destroy me.

I had to hold onto who I was, and my sons, they were like my main source of motivation.

And that's what I had to keep constantly reminding myself, that I gotta make it through this because they're depending on me.

(chains clinking) (dreamy music) (birds chirping) (birds chirping continues) (gentle music) I feel like I'm dreaming right now.

Since 2012, I have lived with friends, I have lived in hotels.

It's been a long journey to get back to owning my own home.

So down here is considered, like, an in-law suite, which is gonna be actually perfect for when I house the ladies that return home from prison, because that's the ultimate plan for this place.

So this is beginning.

And this is what I have been waiting to do, to walk barefoot in my own home.

(Pamela laughs) When I first came home, I wanted everything to just disappear.

There's a lot of shame, a lot of guilt, a lot of embarrassment, all wrapped up into failure.

I wanted to forget about that and just put my life back together and move forward.

However, I couldn't.

I tried.

But something would always trigger me to think about my baby and just to think that there were gonna be other women coming behind me that were gonna have to go through the same things that I went through, things that just weren't right.

So I knew something had to be done.

(curious music) I started a petition with change.org to stop shackling of women in federal prison.

Good morning, everybody.

I thank you for coming out.

We have an active bill here.

It's HB-345, and it would stop shackling.

When I started this work, I had no experience or anything dealing with politics, period.

- Who has lobbied before?

So, the way it works in Georgia, the easiest way to get in touch with your representatives is what's called on the ropes, and it's just absolute chaos.

(bell ringing) (people chattering) - The representative's not available.

- [Pamela] Okay, thank you.

So she's not in there.

- When they come out, be ready.

Speak from the heart, and just make sure that they hear you.

We know as individual people that personal stories are what change lives.

- Chairwoman Cooper!

I see her, I'm gonna try to catch her.

We knew we were gonna have to get Republican support, and my strategy for doing that was I introduced myself to Chairwoman Sharon Cooper.

I told her my story, and she told me not only would she support, she would host the bill.

- [Reporter] Pam Winn spent five years in prison, never imagining she'd be lobbying members of Congress in the years after her release - I felt like the least that I could do is to fight and try and do something.

- I welcome everyone to our briefing on women in prison seeking justice behind bars.

- Well, today I speak on behalf of the invisible women, and I call them the invisible women because no one wants to talk about the harm that is done to us.

- [Reporter] Pamela Winn became the face of the anti-shackle movement in Georgia.

(attendees clapping) - [Speaker] Ms. Pam, you took your pain, and it turned into passion.

- Everything in the prison is set up for the men, the prison was created for the men.

I could keep going on and on about what we face as women on the inside that people just don't even think about.

- I can't thank you enough for your heroism, (attendees clapping) turning your wounds into justice action.

- It's happening, I can't believe this.

- That is awesome!

- The update is HB-345 has made it to Rules Committee today to be voted on.

I had no plan to ever tell my own personal story and definitely not repeat my story over and over again.

(attendees clapping) We're back.

- We are.

- At the White House.

Now I tell it everywhere and unapologetically, even though it hurts.

But what I tell myself is that it's necessary because what I know from my own personal experience is the price that we pay, it highly exceeds the sentence and it far exceeds the crime, and that has to stop.

(pensive music) (bell jingling) - The only thing, (person in black laughs) the only thing I don't have over there that- (music drowns out Pamela) Wide awake today.

- Just woke up, took a long nap.

(pensive music) (pensive music continues) Say, "I'm gonna be big trouble, but I'm gonna be good trouble.

Sweet trouble."

(smooches) (pensive music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music continues)