Civil Brand

Television director Neema Barnette directs the forceful drama Civil Brand, based on a story by Preston A. Whitmore II. Shot with a micro-budget of 500,000 dollars, the film stars confrontational rap and hip-hop artists Mos Def, MC Lyte, and Da Brat. The story concerns a women’s prison that exploits its largely African-American inmate population as cheap labor to manufacture products for a corporation. Mostly incarcerated due to domestic violence situations, the inmates also face sexual abuse as the hands of the prison staff, headed by Captain Deese (Clifton Powell) and Warden Nelson (Reed McCants). Accused of murder, Frances Shepard (Lisa Rae) joins forces with inmates Little Momma (Lark Voorhies), Wet (Monica Calhoun), and Nikki Barnes (N’Bushe Wright), as well as law student Michael (Mos Def), in order to start an uprising., Charged, hard-hitting drama follows a new inmate (LisaRaye) as she fights to affect change at a women’s penetentiary that is run as a prison-for-profit by abusive, corrupt officials. Hip-hop star Mos Def costars as a sympathetic jailer who tries to help the exploited yardbirds. Rappers Da Brat and MC Lyte are also featured. N’Bushe Wright, Monica Calhoun, Clifton Powell, Lark Voohies.