WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW. Treasure looked at an old picture of her mother she'd kept for years, which linked her to her past and smiled. What Treasure didn't know was the harsh truth that picture actually represented. THE STORY Imagine celebrating your 21st birthday being transferred from a youth correctional facility to the 'Big House'. Welcome New Fish, Treasure (Yolanda Ross), to the state penitentiary, who is no stranger to prison life protocol. In fact, Treasure is happy about being transferred to the State Facility for Women because she will finally meet her mother, whom she thought was dead, for the first time. Several of the inmates transferring with Treasure are strip searched [including the degrading body cavity check], instructed on the "rules" by a seemingly by-DA-book prison guard, Nelson (Marc Vann), and then finally placed into the general inmate population. Treasure meets up with her gang bangin' partna, Shadow (LaTonya Hagans), who tells her that her mother, Brownie (Davenia McFadden), is a lifer on Unit A. On her first day of incarceration, Nelson sends Treasure (aka inmate #2897) to the hole for 30 days because he catches her selling contraband. [So how else is my gurl Treasure supposed to make an honest living behind the walls of the brick house?] Treasure sees Brownie for the first time on the basketball court. She substitutes in for another inmate who manages to get her face bashed in by Brownie. She tries to get Brownie to somehow recognize her, but Brownie only sees her as another convict instead of her own daughter. Treasure then bribes another inmate to gain access to Unit A so she can confront Brownie face-to-face. Treasure tells Brownie that she's been looking for her and even got herself locked up simply to "get next to her." Brownie is steadfast in her conviction that she already has a prison-style family -- a wife and two daughters. Brownie: "If you're in here it's because of you and nobody else. I don't even know who you are, so bounce." Treasure throws the picture of her supposed mother at Brownie and Brownie realizes who Treasure is. Brownie tells Treasure a heartwarming story of how she didn't know what happened to her because the authorities took her away from her the moment she was born, and that her own mother, Treasure's grandmother, was the reason for their estrangement. The main conflict begins when Kit (Rain Phoenix), Brownie's adopted prison daughter, feels threatened by Treasure and Brownie's biological mother and daughter bond. Brownie immediately puts Treasure to work selling contraband to the prisoners. The man-N-charge of this underground operation is Nelson, the guard who put Treasure 'n da hole on her first day in prison. Tension is also created when Treasure begins a sexual relationship with Kit's gurlfriend, Sugar (Patrice Fisher). Inmates attend mandatory counseling sessions to discuss their feelings about their incarceration, how it's taking a toll on their families, why family members stop visiting or how their children are forever scarred because their mothers are locked up. Treasure is too tough, however, to share her feelings because she's not like them. Racial tension is also an issue addressed in "Stranger Inside". Each ethnic group has their own code of ethics, which is brutally administered to those who don't adhere to prison justice. Inmates also adopt survival skills so they can simply exist behind the walls of a very cruel and violent environment. Leisha (Medusa) is the hip-hop, spoken word diva. Poetry keeps her centered and is her meal ticket out of prison. Doodle (Ella Joyce) sleeps with a guard because she doesn't believe in the lesbian lifestyle. Brownie only loves one thing -- money -- and she'll 'f UP anyone who she believes is stealing her cut. Kit quickly learns this lesson when Brownie asks her for the money she's earned from selling contraband and she is $50.00 short. Shadow and Kit initially tried to convince Treasure that Brownie is a "lifer" and she will kill anyone who gets in her way. Treasure will learn the hard way I wasn't prepared for the surprise ending. Weeks later, I'm still replaying the final scene in my head. The performances were so convincing, I wondered who was acting and [who really spent a stint in jail], to depict such realism. CASS' FINAL THOUGHTS A friend of mine recently performed one of her poems, God Bless The Child, (based on Billie Holiday's song), at a poet's reception. The poem dealt with her relationship with her mother, who [was] incarcerated for years. [I had the wonderful opportunity to hear her recite this poem prior to the actual performance. I told her that her poem reminded me of the movie I was reviewing, Stranger Inside. She said she also saw it, and that she hoped she'd find the courage to discuss it with her mother one day. In the meantime, she said that God Bless The Child would serve an anthem for her and other children whose mothers were, and still are, incarcerated]. STRANGER INSIDE: I don't want viewers to confuse or even equate Stranger Inside with HBO's "OZ," because it's more than a story about women facing the harsh realties of life behind prison bars. It's more about surviving on the outside when your mind is already on lockdown. back to top Copyright Cassandra Henry, 2001 EMAIL: cass@3blackchicks.com