Civil Brand

"Welcome to the plantation, Sister Francis," says one hardened inmate of the Whitehead Correctional Facility for Women to new fish Francis Shepard (LisaRaye), a nurse who killed her abusive husband. Inside this low-rent rehash of women-in-prison movie cliches lies an icy sliver of righteous anger at inmate labor — not the notion that work teaches skills and discipline that can help smooth an inmate's transition to the free world, but the cynical exploitation of a captive work force. Low-wage, nonunionized workers increase profit margins for big business and drive blue-collar workers onto the unemployment rolls — who can undercut $1.50 as day? Francis is tos...