Interview: 'The Sentence' Documents Toll of Mandatory Sentencing Laws On A Family

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🗓️ 16 October 2018

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

It's Tuesday: Cindy Shank was living a comfortable life at home with her three little girls and husband when one day the feds came knocking. They were there to arrest her for not telling the police about an ex-boyfriend's drug dealing several years prior. That's the story behind a new HBO documentary, 'The Sentence' - directed by Shank's brother, Rudy Valdez. Sam talks to Cindy and Rudy about documenting the impact on their family, a mother's love for her children, and how the film has brought politicians together on both sides of the aisle.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey y'all from NPR, it's been a minute.
0:06.3	I'm Sam Sanders.
0:07.3	Today, we're going to talk about a movie that I cannot stop talking about.
0:11.4	It's called The Sentence.
0:12.9	I saw it this summer at the Latino International Film Festival here in Los Angeles.
0:17.5	It is a documentary about Cindy Shank.
0:20.2	She's a mom.
0:21.4	She has three kids.
0:22.4	A husband, a home, a pretty normal life.
0:25.4	But one morning, the fence comes knocking.
0:28.0	They arrest Cindy for something she was involved in years before.
0:31.4	Her boyfriend had been a drug dealer and because she knew what he was doing and didn't
0:35.4	report it, she was committing a crime.
0:37.7	And because of mandatory sentencing laws, she got 15 years.
0:41.7	This movie is about Cindy struggled to get out.
0:44.3	Her struggle to keep being a mother to her three daughters who were only four, two,
0:49.0	and six weeks old when she got locked up.
0:52.0	And the whole movie is directed by Cindy's brother, Rudy Baldes.
0:56.8	I talked to Rudy and Cindy last week.
0:59.4	They were in New York City.
1:00.4	I was in LA and I had to start by describing the scene at their film's premiere.
1:10.8	Thank you both for being here.
	...

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