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This programme contains strong language and some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting | 0:00:02 | 0:00:09 | |
Oh, Rubmaps. You pull up the reviews. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
It says Mia has breast size C. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
She's clean-shaven. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:16 | |
Nice and round. That's her butt. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:18 | |
-Posterior. -Posterior. | 0:00:18 | 0:00:19 | |
And all of a sudden, it goes into a narrative | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
of what they actually did. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
"Handed me the towel and takes me to the table shower. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
"I think she may do Greek. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
"She told me to get on top, and I worked her mish," | 0:00:28 | 0:00:32 | |
which is going to be missionary style. Straight up, regular sex. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:34 | |
"But then I felt her finger go up my ass, | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
"and that made me blast deep into the cover." | 0:00:37 | 0:00:41 | |
I don't know what that means, but I'm pretty sure that your | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
imagination what that is. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:45 | |
Do you think these women are working against their will? | 0:00:45 | 0:00:48 | |
Sometimes they are, sometimes they can go and come as they please, | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
depending on the provider. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:52 | |
I was in Houston, Texas, | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
on the trail of prostitutes and their pimps. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:02 | |
As you see it, she's making that choice for what reason? | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
Some women are just hoes. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:06 | |
You know, they're just prostitutes. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
And that's all they're going to be. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:11 | |
At a time when the internet has made the sale of sex easier than ever | 0:01:11 | 0:01:15 | |
before, | 0:01:15 | 0:01:16 | |
I was in one of America's epicentres of sex trafficking... | 0:01:16 | 0:01:21 | |
SHE SIGHS | 0:01:21 | 0:01:22 | |
You OK, Nikki? | 0:01:22 | 0:01:23 | |
You OK? | 0:01:25 | 0:01:26 | |
..getting to know the working women, | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
and hoping to understand a lifestyle in which the line between | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
choice and force isn't always clear. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:37 | |
It makes me sick how much he can control me. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
And I fall for it every time. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
At an hourly motel in the south-west of Houston, | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
I'd arranged a rendezvous using a website called Backpage. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:11 | |
"Hi, guys. I'm Nikki. Looking for the best of the best? | 0:02:11 | 0:02:13 | |
"Silky brunette hair, sexy amazing curves, great woman, | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
"outgoing personality, discreet visits. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
"Really, really addicting. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
"Brunette Italian. 26. Call me." | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
-Are you 26? -Hell, no! | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
-How old are you? -How old do you think I am? | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
27? | 0:02:30 | 0:02:31 | |
SHE CHUCKLES | 0:02:31 | 0:02:32 | |
No, not even close. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
I think you're 30-something, aren't you? | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
Italians age very nicely, though, don't we? | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
SHE CHUCKLES | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
I'm 37 years old. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:42 | |
Do you get a lot of business through that? | 0:02:44 | 0:02:46 | |
I get a lot of calls, but I screen everybody. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
If you text me, "Hey, are you available?" | 0:02:50 | 0:02:52 | |
Or something like that... I'll show you. I have pre-set messages. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
"Hey, sweetie. How are you? | 0:02:55 | 0:02:56 | |
"Did you want to schedule a session with me?" | 0:02:56 | 0:02:58 | |
And then I have one for my prices. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:01 | |
What are your prices? | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
They need 150 for a half an hour, because the room's 20. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
I get the rest. And then 200 for the hour - 20 for the room, | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
I get the rest. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:09 | |
I don't rent rooms, because Houston has hourly rate rooms everywhere. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:13 | |
Do you pretend to enjoy it? | 0:03:13 | 0:03:14 | |
I try to enjoy it. I mean, if I'm going to have sex, | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
I want to get off, but I don't always do it. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
Sometimes I get really good looking men, though, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
that are, like, very successful, good guys, | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
you know? And they want to... | 0:03:26 | 0:03:28 | |
"Do you want to stop what you're doing and come live with me?" | 0:03:28 | 0:03:30 | |
I'm like, "No." | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
If I wanted a relationship, I'd be normal. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
And I'm not even... | 0:03:36 | 0:03:37 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
Loud! | 0:03:40 | 0:03:41 | |
Do you need to get that? Who was that? | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
Um... | 0:03:46 | 0:03:47 | |
Do you call in to your pimp? | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
I update him on every move I make. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:52 | |
The person that you're with is supposed to | 0:03:54 | 0:03:58 | |
keep you on point, make sure you're mentally stable. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
Make sure you're fed, you've got a room, you're taken care of, | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
at any means possible. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:05 | |
You know what I mean? Like, that's my daddy. He takes good care of me. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:09 | |
He's like your corner man? | 0:04:09 | 0:04:10 | |
He knows where I'm at, what room I'm in. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:12 | |
Like, I give him every information, because my safety's on the line. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
If I make a mistake it could cost me my life. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
-Do you live with him? -No. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
You have a separate.. An apartment where you stay? | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
Mm-hm. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:25 | |
Which he pays for? | 0:04:25 | 0:04:26 | |
You give him all your money? | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
Mm-hm. All the money you make? | 0:04:29 | 0:04:30 | |
-100%. -100%? -Mm-hm. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
So you must have made tens of thousands for him. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
I've made him a lot of money, yes. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
-And, if you... -Probably over, like, 150,000 total. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
When you're with a pimp, anything you want, | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
you have to ask for permission, and if they say, "No," it's no. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
And if you go against them, there's consequences. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
If you violate the rules, there's consequences. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
And they're not, like, minor consequences. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:54 | |
-He's physical? -He can be, yeah. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
If you're out of line, if you're disrespectful, if you disobey him. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
Why not go with a softer one? | 0:05:01 | 0:05:03 | |
SHE CHUCKLES | 0:05:03 | 0:05:04 | |
Who wants a weak ass dude protecting you? | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
What you going to do? If I can handle my business and you can't, | 0:05:06 | 0:05:09 | |
why am I with you? Like, what are you doing for me? | 0:05:09 | 0:05:11 | |
Had you been working, doing sex work, before you got with him? | 0:05:11 | 0:05:15 | |
Yeah. He didn't, like, force me to do what I'm doing. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
-I was already doing it. -He didn't turn you out? | 0:05:18 | 0:05:20 | |
-Uh-uh. -But you... | 0:05:20 | 0:05:21 | |
-He was the first... -And I don't want people to misunderstand. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
Like, I'm not forced to do what I'm doing. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
People have, like, built this whole human trafficking thing. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
Yes, human trafficking is real, but it's not | 0:05:31 | 0:05:35 | |
realistically happening like they make it out to be. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
I like spending time with people. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
I like meeting new people. I love sex. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:42 | |
I love money. And I love to travel, | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
so I've got the best job in the world. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
Hello? | 0:05:48 | 0:05:50 | |
Hi, sweetie. How are you? | 0:05:50 | 0:05:51 | |
I'm fine. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
Are you wanting to come see me? | 0:05:55 | 0:05:56 | |
-Yeah. -OK. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
What is your age and race, baby? | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
You're from the Virgin Islands? | 0:06:03 | 0:06:05 | |
Houston is home to some of America's most notorious areas | 0:06:06 | 0:06:10 | |
for illegal sex work. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:11 | |
The nation's fourth-largest city, at the crossroads of two interstates, | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
it is a magnet for both prostitutes and pimps. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
-Hey. -Hey. -Where you at? | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
I'm at Hillcroft and 59th. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
-OK, so... -Are you ready? -Yeah, we just got to Bissonnet. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
On a Friday night, I was with recovery coach Kim Isaacs. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
She was doing outreach in one of the city's hotspots. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:38 | |
OK, you got all the condoms? You've got enough condoms? | 0:06:38 | 0:06:40 | |
OK, let me get this girl real quick. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:42 | |
Hi, mama. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:45 | |
I used to be out here. Can I offer you some free condoms? | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
No. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
You want some free condoms? | 0:06:51 | 0:06:52 | |
Where are we? | 0:06:54 | 0:06:56 | |
We are on Bissonnet, | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
which is a hub for human trafficking | 0:06:58 | 0:07:02 | |
on the south-west side of Houston. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:04 | |
Most of the people that come here have gone through Louisiana, | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and then they come to Houston. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:10 | |
The girls out here are not out here alone. They are working for someone, | 0:07:10 | 0:07:16 | |
which they call families, | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
compiled of a pimp, and then anywhere from two to five | 0:07:18 | 0:07:26 | |
to seven girls. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:27 | |
They can't work out here without a pimp? | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
On this particular track, no. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
The thing is that the veteran girls out here will spot a | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
what they call renegade, which is a girl that's just out here | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
on her own, | 0:07:41 | 0:07:43 | |
and either physically attack her | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
or try and coerce her into, you know, | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
coming into their family. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
Renegades really don't make it very long out in a place like this | 0:07:51 | 0:07:53 | |
because of the brutality of the pimps, also. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
You were in the life. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:57 | |
I was. When I started out here, I was 12 years old. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
Did you ever have a pimp? | 0:08:01 | 0:08:03 | |
Yes, I did. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:04 | |
What were your feelings for the pimp? | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
It felt good for someone to tell me that I was a pretty girl. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
-You didn't view him in a negative way? -Not at all. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
Even when I was out there with an umbrella, and it's storming raining, | 0:08:13 | 0:08:18 | |
and I'm freezing, and I'm hungry, and I have to wait until I get my | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
quota to go and get a hamburger, | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
I still couldn't wait to put that money in his hand, | 0:08:24 | 0:08:28 | |
because I knew I was going to be praised. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
How do you see him now? | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
I see him now as a parasite. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
It's like a plague, almost. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:39 | |
Kim and her colleagues work out of Santa Maria Hostel, | 0:08:51 | 0:08:55 | |
a shelter offering treatment to women with drug problems. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:58 | |
Among them are a number of ex-prostitutes, | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
some of whom have had pimps in the past. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:06 | |
Are you working with cops, Dee? | 0:09:08 | 0:09:10 | |
-Yes. -You're taking your medications as prescribed? | 0:09:10 | 0:09:12 | |
No. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:13 | |
One of the newest arrivals was 18-year-old Savannah. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:17 | |
She was doing a one-month review of her progress | 0:09:17 | 0:09:20 | |
with Counsellor Tonia Granger. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
It's not just the drugs and alcohol that drives you, | 0:09:22 | 0:09:24 | |
and I think you know that. Your validation comes from all them folks | 0:09:24 | 0:09:27 | |
that want you. All them Johns, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
all them pimps that are out there fighting for you, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
because you're worth a tonne of money to them. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
That's where that attention seeking comes in. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
-Right? -Mm-hm. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:38 | |
What was the lifestyle that you were in before you were here? | 0:09:38 | 0:09:40 | |
I was selling myself. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
The fast life of being in that life was exciting to me. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
I always had something to do. I always... | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
..had money. I always had clothes. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:53 | |
I had someone who | 0:09:53 | 0:09:55 | |
was obsessed with me. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:56 | |
-Was that your pimp? -Yes. | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
You felt he was obsessed with you? | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
-It seemed to you that he was obsessed? -Not obsessed... | 0:10:02 | 0:10:05 | |
-Yeah, obsessed. -In what way? | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
He would show me more attention than my wife at the time. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
-Your wife at the time? -So it was his girlfriend... | 0:10:13 | 0:10:15 | |
Not his girlfriend. It was his other girl that he had, | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
but it was called my wife. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
So I called her my wife. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:21 | |
You have to understand what the human trafficking family | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
looks like. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:25 | |
A pimp's success is directly related to his top female. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:30 | |
Cos a woman is the only one that's going to be able to deal | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
with a room full of women. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
And so that would be the wife, and so if it's his wife, | 0:10:35 | 0:10:39 | |
it's her wife. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:40 | |
The pimp seemed more interested in you than in the wife? | 0:10:40 | 0:10:45 | |
-Yeah, because I could make more money for him. -Mm-hm. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:48 | |
And I knew that. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:50 | |
There were two pimps in Savannah's life - | 0:10:55 | 0:10:59 | |
the most recent one, who she still felt attached to, | 0:10:59 | 0:11:01 | |
and then there was the man who'd first recruited her age 16, | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
whose street name was Rico Pimping. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:08 | |
Only weeks earlier, she'd taken the brave step of testifying against | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
Rico in court. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
He'd been given 35 years. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:16 | |
I was curious how he'd got her into the lifestyle. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:24 | |
How did that go down? You were at a party? | 0:11:24 | 0:11:26 | |
We were at a park getting high, | 0:11:26 | 0:11:28 | |
and all I remember is coming out of the high, | 0:11:28 | 0:11:33 | |
being driven to a hotel. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:35 | |
You were out of it, you were intoxicated, | 0:11:35 | 0:11:38 | |
you found yourself being taken to a hotel. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:40 | |
Then what? | 0:11:40 | 0:11:41 | |
He... Rico explained to me what I was going to be doing. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
And at the time... | 0:11:44 | 0:11:46 | |
To me, it sounded better than what my life was. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
He explained to me that I'd be getting cars, and a house, | 0:11:51 | 0:11:54 | |
and all the clothes I wanted, and that I didn't have to ever | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
be sad again or be hurt. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:00 | |
So he gave me kind of like a fantasy lifestyle. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
And at the time, I was OK with it. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:08 | |
A sales pitch. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:10 | |
Yeah. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:11 | |
Then how soon after that did you turn your first trick? | 0:12:12 | 0:12:17 | |
Within an hour. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
-Really? -Mm-hm. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:23 | |
So what happened? | 0:12:23 | 0:12:24 | |
He explained to me that the pictures he took were going | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
to be posted on Backpage, and that... | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
Backpage.com? | 0:12:29 | 0:12:30 | |
So he took pictures there and then? | 0:12:30 | 0:12:32 | |
-Mm-hm. -Of you naked? | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
Yes. And he said, soon after that, that I'd be getting phone calls. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:37 | |
So the calls came in straight away? | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
Mm-hm. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:42 | |
So do you remember the first one? | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
-I don't. -Was it that night? | 0:12:44 | 0:12:46 | |
Yes. I had, um... | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
..five or six that night. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:52 | |
How did the physical side of it seem to you? | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
I mean, did it seem disgusting? | 0:12:56 | 0:12:57 | |
At the time, I was not a virgin, but | 0:12:59 | 0:13:01 | |
I had been with only one person. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
So, you know, I felt I was degrading myself, in a way, | 0:13:03 | 0:13:07 | |
to have to do the job, which only made me do more drugs. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:11 | |
How did you come to leave Rico Pimping? | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
I was already reported as a runaway, so the cops were looking for me. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
So I do believe that I made contact with one of the officers. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:22 | |
He was posing as a trick, and he came and he got me | 0:13:22 | 0:13:27 | |
and picked me up. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:28 | |
Would you testify against your most recent pimp? | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
Right now, no. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:34 | |
He did traffic you, though? | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
In a sense, it's the textbook definition. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:46 | |
Because he was moving you around the country, um, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:51 | |
pimping you out. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:53 | |
Yes. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
You still have feelings for this guy? | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
No. A little bit. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:01 | |
But no. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:03 | |
It makes me sick, how much he can control me. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:10 | |
And... | 0:14:12 | 0:14:13 | |
I fall for it every time. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:15 | |
Today, Texas' Attorney General announced the arrest of the CEO of | 0:14:20 | 0:14:24 | |
Backpage.com, calling the website a | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
"grotesque form of modern-day slavery." | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
In the week of my arrival, | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
authorities had attempted to crackdown on Backpage. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:35 | |
It was said that many of the ads there were placed by pimps. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
Increasingly, authorities view prostitutes less as criminals | 0:14:40 | 0:14:44 | |
and more as victims of their traffickers. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:47 | |
All right, UC's, y'all are clear to go when you're ready. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
At street level, to get a sense of what local law enforcement | 0:14:50 | 0:14:53 | |
was doing, I was out with the Harris County Sheriff's Office | 0:14:53 | 0:14:57 | |
for a sting operation. | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
OK, one of the undercovers has a female. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:02 | |
I think that's going to be her right there. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:03 | |
Undercover officers would be attempting to bust the working women | 0:15:03 | 0:15:07 | |
by posing as customers. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
Near the bell? | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
-Yeah, I got her. -I would be listening in with Sergeant Chapper | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
and Lieutenant Diaz. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
Is it a typical morning? | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
-Does this happen every morning? -Oh, yeah, every day. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:23 | |
The last time we did an operation in this area, | 0:15:23 | 0:15:26 | |
literally, right at daybreak, I counted eight before our operation | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
even started. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
We try to speak to them, get their cooperation, | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
and work on identifying the pimp. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
This guy's walking close to our area. He may see the camera. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:41 | |
Right, there's another one. It's going to be a | 0:15:45 | 0:15:47 | |
black female. Shorts, pink socks, and a black jacket. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
Did she just get out of the car? | 0:16:15 | 0:16:17 | |
-She got out? -She got out. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:20 | |
No deal on that one. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:23 | |
-No deal. -She twigged. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:25 | |
How did she know? | 0:16:26 | 0:16:27 | |
These girls, they're out here and they do it all the time, | 0:16:27 | 0:16:30 | |
all the time. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:31 | |
And, I mean, unfortunately, | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
they start knowing that there's parameters of what | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
an undercover police officer can and can't do. | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
Once a deal is done and a prostitute is in the undercover car, | 0:17:06 | 0:17:10 | |
a patrol cop swoops in. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:12 | |
The women who are arrested would be sent straight to jail. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
Repeat offenders could be looking at up to two years. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
But it was hard not to feel that the real culprits were getting away. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
You made quite a few busts this morning. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
None of them were either trafficked or willing to say that they were | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
trafficked, right? | 0:17:37 | 0:17:38 | |
What do you think's standing in the way of women... | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
..bringing their traffickers to justice? | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
Most of them are likely going to fear the repercussions of it. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
I mean, once... | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
In order to cooperate with us, | 0:17:51 | 0:17:52 | |
that means that they have to stand against them. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
Some simply don't want to be labelled as a snitch, | 0:17:55 | 0:17:57 | |
and others are going to fear the physical harm that they're | 0:17:57 | 0:18:00 | |
going to suffer from that. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:01 | |
And some sense of loyalty? | 0:18:01 | 0:18:02 | |
Absolutely. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
Absolutely. There's a sense of loyalty and protection. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
My half-hour is 150 and my hour 200. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:19 | |
I'd meet you at an hourly room for in-call, | 0:18:19 | 0:18:21 | |
or I can come to you for 200. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:23 | |
There's a hotel called The Pearl. You can meet me there. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
I can send you the address if you want? | 0:18:26 | 0:18:28 | |
I was with Nikki. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:29 | |
All right, sweetie. All right. I'll send you the information. | 0:18:32 | 0:18:35 | |
All right, bye. | 0:18:35 | 0:18:37 | |
How old was he? | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
50. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:40 | |
You could get, like, 100 to 200 calls a day, and, like, | 0:18:40 | 0:18:43 | |
probably only ten of them were legit. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
The rest are people playing games. | 0:18:45 | 0:18:47 | |
So it's kind of frustrating sometimes, especially when you're | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
trying to make money and people are playing on the phone, like... | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:18:53 | 0:18:55 | |
SHE SIGHS | 0:19:00 | 0:19:01 | |
Who was just calling? | 0:19:05 | 0:19:07 | |
My daddy. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:08 | |
I can't answer right now, though. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
It will make me, like, really fucked up. I can't... | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
Cos I don't have what he wants, so he's not going to be | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
pleasant about it. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:21 | |
Jesus, um... | 0:19:24 | 0:19:26 | |
You OK, Nikki? | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
Yeah, I'm good. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:31 | |
I just don't like him | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
being mad at me, I guess. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
Why is he mad at you? | 0:19:37 | 0:19:39 | |
Because I didn't achieve my quota, | 0:19:39 | 0:19:42 | |
because I was not focused on what I was supposed to be doing. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:48 | |
Oh, it's cold! | 0:19:52 | 0:19:54 | |
How long have you been doing this kind of work? | 0:19:54 | 0:19:57 | |
-Well over a year and a half, I think. -Not that long? | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
What did you do before? | 0:20:02 | 0:20:04 | |
You had a square job? | 0:20:04 | 0:20:05 | |
Yeah, I worked at Kohl's warehouse in the packaging department. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:09 | |
I don't like regular jobs. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:10 | |
I mean, I used to be married. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:13 | |
Where did you grow up? | 0:20:13 | 0:20:15 | |
Cincinnati, Ohio. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:16 | |
You got married in Ohio as well? | 0:20:16 | 0:20:18 | |
Mm-hm. | 0:20:18 | 0:20:19 | |
But you had led a relatively square life, right? | 0:20:19 | 0:20:23 | |
For the first, you know, 30 years or so? | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
35 years? | 0:20:29 | 0:20:31 | |
And then to get into sex work, that's a big step. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
And I'm just trying to get a... | 0:20:34 | 0:20:36 | |
I was having sex before that. I was just doing it for free! | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
Right, but... | 0:20:38 | 0:20:40 | |
Now I bank up on it. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:41 | |
-Now you bank up on it? -I still enjoyed sex before, but | 0:20:41 | 0:20:45 | |
it's more exciting when you get money for it. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
How did that happen? I'm wondering how that transition happened. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:51 | |
A friend of mine was posting on there and she was telling me | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
about it and telling me what kind of money she was making. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
So I just was like, "Let's give it a shot," you know? | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
See what happens. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:00 | |
-Had your marriage already ended at that point? -Mm-hm, yeah. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
It's quite a big step to go from... | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
Why do you think that? It's simple. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:07 | |
I posted an ad. I got a room. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:09 | |
And I screen my calls. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:11 | |
What made you come down to Houston? | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
Cos Houston's where it's at. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:16 | |
The track, Bissonnet, it's the biggest fucking track in America. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
And how quickly did you meet... | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
Same day, within 24 hours. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
-Your pimp? -Mm-hm. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:29 | |
What was his pitch? | 0:21:29 | 0:21:31 | |
Trouble doesn't have a pitch. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
I don't think you understand. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
Like, I would never go against what he says. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
You know what I'm saying? Like, I respect him a lot. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
And I make a lot of sacrifices for that man. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
You don't really fully understand until you go through some of | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
the things that I've gone through. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
And he's rode with me. He's saved my ass a few times. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:55 | |
Without him, I would have probably been | 0:21:55 | 0:21:58 | |
really bad off, you know? | 0:21:58 | 0:22:00 | |
Physically, do you mean? | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
Like from dangerous situations? | 0:22:02 | 0:22:04 | |
And mentally. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:08 | |
Like, some of the stuff that you go through can really, like, | 0:22:08 | 0:22:11 | |
mess with your head, you know? | 0:22:11 | 0:22:13 | |
Make you doubt yourself, and that's who... | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
..moulded me into a real fucking solid ass female, like... | 0:22:17 | 0:22:22 | |
It sounds like what you're saying is he gives you focus. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:26 | |
He gives me everything. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:27 | |
I don't associate with anybody other than him. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
Other than clients. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:32 | |
He must be quite a special person. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:36 | |
SHE CHUCKLES | 0:22:38 | 0:22:39 | |
SHE TAPS HER FINGERS | 0:22:39 | 0:22:41 | |
Yeah. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:43 | |
Have you had enough to eat, by the way? | 0:22:46 | 0:22:49 | |
I haven't eaten in, like, two days. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:51 | |
Why don't you have a little more to eat? | 0:22:51 | 0:22:53 | |
I'm preoccupied. | 0:22:53 | 0:22:55 | |
What is preoccupying you? | 0:22:56 | 0:22:59 | |
Um... | 0:22:59 | 0:23:00 | |
Somebody in my family passed away a few days ago. And, um... | 0:23:04 | 0:23:09 | |
It's kind of been on my mind that I couldn't go to the funeral | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
and stuff, and uh... | 0:23:12 | 0:23:13 | |
It just sucks, you know? | 0:23:15 | 0:23:17 | |
Because I have to, like, keep my composure. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
I can't, like, show that I'm sad. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
I've got to be this peppy, happy little person for my clients, right? | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
Fuck! | 0:23:32 | 0:23:33 | |
I think I lost the money. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:36 | |
Maybe it's in the car. I don't know. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
Jesus! | 0:23:40 | 0:23:41 | |
At the end of our lunch, | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
Nikki made the awful discovery that her previous night's takings were | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
missing. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:49 | |
I'm going to freak out, man. He's going to kick my ass! | 0:23:49 | 0:23:51 | |
How the fuck did I lose 250 fucking dollars? | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
He's going to think I'm fucking playing with him, | 0:23:57 | 0:23:59 | |
that I was fucking off all night. He's going to be like, | 0:23:59 | 0:24:01 | |
"How the fuck you was out all night and ain't got no money?" | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
That's fucking ridiculous. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:05 | |
This dude doesn't just smack you around. He'll, like, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:08 | |
beat the shit out of you. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:09 | |
Her sense of fear was palpable, | 0:24:09 | 0:24:13 | |
her dependence and vulnerability suddenly laid bare. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
Having heard so much about pimps, I felt I should speak to one. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:29 | |
Human trafficking convictions carry long prison terms. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:40 | |
Men in the lifestyle are understandably wary of publicity. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
But I had a lead on Shederick Smith, convicted in 2009 | 0:24:45 | 0:24:49 | |
of compelling prostitution by a minor, | 0:24:49 | 0:24:52 | |
and now serving a 42-year term in Amarillo, Texas. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
How are you doing? Nice to meet you. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
His pimp name had been Fancy. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
-How's it going? -I'm all right. How you doing? | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
I was made to understand that you had been, and perhaps still are, | 0:25:05 | 0:25:09 | |
-a pimp. -Yes, sir. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
Would that be correct? | 0:25:11 | 0:25:12 | |
Well, half of it is. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:14 | |
I was a pimp, but I'm incarcerated now, | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
so I'm no longer pimping. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:19 | |
The case that got you incarcerated involved | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
a girl aged 15... | 0:25:22 | 0:25:24 | |
-Right. -..who in the court documents is identified as LD. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
-Right. -Do you not see that | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
a minor, or a child, is not appropriate? You know, that it's | 0:25:31 | 0:25:36 | |
wrong for them to be working in that way? | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
It's totally wrong. It's totally wrong. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
If I'd have known she was 15, it wouldn't... | 0:25:41 | 0:25:43 | |
I would never even have been involved, got involved with her. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
So you... You're alleging that you didn't realise she was 15? | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
I didn't know. She didn't tell me she was 15. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
To be honest with you, she told me she was 17. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
In the account that she gives, | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
she was more or less recruited by someone called LaPrincess Moore. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:06 | |
She wasn't recruited. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:07 | |
She was discovered on the hoe stroll. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
A hoe stroll is a street where women sell pussy at. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:14 | |
She was drafted into your entourage? | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
No, she wasn't drafted. She was chose to come with LaPrincess. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:21 | |
You put them on Backpage, is that right? | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
Backpage, yes. That's correct. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
In her account, she says there were times she was with you | 0:26:26 | 0:26:29 | |
when she wanted to stop working and you would pressure her and say, | 0:26:29 | 0:26:34 | |
"You haven't made enough money yet." | 0:26:34 | 0:26:36 | |
Well, if you read the documents correctly, | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
this chick was only with me for seven days. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:43 | |
So that's hardly enough time for us | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
to even really get acquainted. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:48 | |
You know what I'm saying? | 0:26:48 | 0:26:50 | |
Seven days. I couldn't have been too horrible in seven days. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:53 | |
Do you think it's a good deal for the women? | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
-Yeah, it was a good deal. -In what way? | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
Because I'm a good provider. I'm a good manager. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
And as you see it, she's making that choice for what reason? | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
Because she want to. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
What makes her want to? | 0:27:10 | 0:27:12 | |
Some women are just hoes. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
You know, they're just prostitutes, and that's all they're going to be. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
It's like a race car driver. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:20 | |
He get a rush when he's going 200mph. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
They get a rush when they go up in the room | 0:27:24 | 0:27:26 | |
and can manipulate a man out of 700 or 800, 1,000, | 0:27:26 | 0:27:31 | |
2,000, 3,000. They get a rush out of that. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
Did they have to give all the money to you? | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
Of course I'm getting all the money. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:39 | |
Why do you say, "Of course?" | 0:27:40 | 0:27:42 | |
I mean, that's just... That's how the game goes. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
I'm the... I'm the... I'm the manager. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:48 | |
It's my company. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:50 | |
And if they leave, | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
you give them some money back or not? | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
Yeah, I give them some money back. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
How much? | 0:27:57 | 0:27:58 | |
Nothing! | 0:27:58 | 0:27:59 | |
Do you see why other people on the outside would view pimps as | 0:28:07 | 0:28:11 | |
predators? | 0:28:11 | 0:28:12 | |
Yeah, because they're ignorant. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
Meaning they lack knowledge. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
She want a family or team. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
So she chose to come over here and mess with Fancy. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
And be a part of Fancy's Family. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:28 | |
It's an emotional thing? | 0:28:30 | 0:28:32 | |
Is it emotional... You think it's emotional? | 0:28:34 | 0:28:37 | |
I mean, you know, you could be right. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:43 | |
She might want a father figure. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:45 | |
It's like a little cult, almost. | 0:28:47 | 0:28:49 | |
Is that what it is? | 0:28:51 | 0:28:53 | |
Kind of. | 0:28:56 | 0:28:58 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:28:58 | 0:28:59 | |
Oh, man. | 0:29:03 | 0:29:05 | |
Several weeks had passed, and at Santa Maria, there had been changes. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:30 | |
Savannah had been going in and out of recovery. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:34 | |
During one relapse, she'd gone back to her pimp. | 0:29:34 | 0:29:37 | |
It was also being said that while in treatment, she'd been prostituting. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:43 | |
-Are you Jax? -Yes. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:44 | |
And there were two new faces, | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
ex-roommates of Savannah's who were said to be romantically linked, | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
Danisha and Jax. | 0:29:49 | 0:29:52 | |
So I understand Savannah's gone? | 0:29:52 | 0:29:55 | |
Yes. She left yesterday. Like, she snuck out the gate. | 0:29:55 | 0:29:58 | |
-What was that about? -She's not done. | 0:29:58 | 0:30:01 | |
-She's not done. -She relapsed in her mind. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:03 | |
Do you think she was turning tricks while she was here? | 0:30:03 | 0:30:06 | |
-Yes. -Yes, of course she was. | 0:30:06 | 0:30:08 | |
She was. She was. | 0:30:08 | 0:30:10 | |
-The whole time. -Are you serious? -Yes. | 0:30:10 | 0:30:12 | |
When she was on HUD side, the transitional part. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:15 | |
Yes, that's what she does. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:17 | |
Wow, that's quite a shock. | 0:30:17 | 0:30:20 | |
-Is it? -Why? | 0:30:20 | 0:30:22 | |
Because when I was talking to her, | 0:30:22 | 0:30:24 | |
she seemed very authentic in her desire for recovery. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:27 | |
She's been talking to these guys from her past. | 0:30:27 | 0:30:30 | |
But she told me he used to beat her and stuff. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:33 | |
But I can't... | 0:30:33 | 0:30:34 | |
One thing I don't do is I'm not a hypocrite. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:38 | |
Because just as well as she's talking to him, | 0:30:38 | 0:30:41 | |
I still talk to the same guy that hit me so hard in my face one time | 0:30:41 | 0:30:45 | |
that it looked like I had an extra something growing from it. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:48 | |
In the lifestyle that we live, | 0:30:48 | 0:30:52 | |
it's like we... | 0:30:52 | 0:30:53 | |
I don't know. Do we find comfort in that? | 0:30:53 | 0:30:55 | |
I'm never going to say that it's good to let a man hit me, | 0:30:56 | 0:30:59 | |
but that's just something that I like. | 0:30:59 | 0:31:02 | |
All right. | 0:31:06 | 0:31:07 | |
Danisha's pimp, T Money, had been her boyfriend. | 0:31:07 | 0:31:11 | |
Under his influence, she'd first prostituted. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
In her room, she had his letters from jail. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:18 | |
OK. This one is from this month. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:22 | |
He says, "Hey, baby. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:24 | |
"I've been going crazy and stressing like hell since we've been out of | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
"touch, baby. Since I've been in love with you, I can't stand to go | 0:31:27 | 0:31:31 | |
"without seeing nor hearing from you. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
"I'm so ready to see you, baby. It don't make no damn sense. | 0:31:34 | 0:31:38 | |
"That's going to be the happiest day of my life right now." | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
What I'm struck by - it's very affectionate, isn't it? | 0:31:41 | 0:31:43 | |
It is. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:45 | |
Was that the sort of relationship you had? | 0:31:45 | 0:31:47 | |
We did. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:48 | |
What was in it for you? | 0:31:48 | 0:31:50 | |
SHE SIGHS | 0:31:50 | 0:31:51 | |
I guess just him. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:56 | |
Him needing me. | 0:31:57 | 0:31:59 | |
You liked giving him your money? | 0:32:00 | 0:32:02 | |
I would watch other females doing the same thing I was doing, | 0:32:03 | 0:32:08 | |
and they would be happy to pass the cash off to their daddy | 0:32:08 | 0:32:13 | |
or their pimp. They would be happy. | 0:32:13 | 0:32:15 | |
So I just figured it was what I was supposed to do. | 0:32:15 | 0:32:20 | |
Even though when we came to Houston it kind of got worse. | 0:32:20 | 0:32:23 | |
It got bad. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:25 | |
In what way? | 0:32:25 | 0:32:26 | |
Because that's when all the physical abuse started happening. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:30 | |
When we were outside, you said that you quite liked that. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:34 | |
I like roughness. | 0:32:36 | 0:32:38 | |
I like to be roughed up. | 0:32:38 | 0:32:39 | |
-In general? -In general. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:42 | |
In sex, or just in general? | 0:32:42 | 0:32:44 | |
Like, if I get into it with my boyfriend and he hit me, | 0:32:44 | 0:32:48 | |
that's, like, a turn on to me. | 0:32:48 | 0:32:49 | |
I don't know why. Don't ask me. | 0:32:49 | 0:32:51 | |
But with T, it was too much. | 0:32:51 | 0:32:54 | |
It was beyond what I liked, my limitations. | 0:32:54 | 0:32:57 | |
Like, I had boundaries to it. | 0:32:57 | 0:32:58 | |
Did that not make you want to leave even more? | 0:32:58 | 0:33:01 | |
It did. It did. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:03 | |
I was afraid. Like, he's a dangerous man. | 0:33:03 | 0:33:07 | |
Hang on. But you're still saying you love this guy. | 0:33:07 | 0:33:09 | |
I know, it's complicated. But, it's... | 0:33:10 | 0:33:13 | |
-You write to him as well, don't you? -I do. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:15 | |
And what do you say? | 0:33:15 | 0:33:16 | |
I'm not here for you any more. | 0:33:16 | 0:33:18 | |
I can't be that woman you want. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:20 | |
-I can't be her. -You've said that to him? | 0:33:20 | 0:33:22 | |
Yes. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:24 | |
That's not what I'm getting from his letters. | 0:33:24 | 0:33:26 | |
This is from the third of... | 0:33:26 | 0:33:29 | |
Like, I think... Wait... | 0:33:29 | 0:33:30 | |
Is that a recent one? | 0:33:30 | 0:33:31 | |
"Stop doing me like that, | 0:33:33 | 0:33:35 | |
"because I'm starting to think you up to some with that | 0:33:35 | 0:33:38 | |
"bullshit. I mean, done sat there and wrote me a whole letter | 0:33:38 | 0:33:42 | |
"about I don't fuck with you." | 0:33:42 | 0:33:44 | |
"I love you so much, baby. I miss you too much, | 0:33:45 | 0:33:48 | |
"and I'm most definitely not trying to lose you for nothing | 0:33:48 | 0:33:51 | |
"nor cut you out, | 0:33:51 | 0:33:53 | |
"so stop with that talk. You're mine. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:56 | |
"You're mine." | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
He wants to make you his wife? | 0:33:58 | 0:34:00 | |
Yeah. | 0:34:00 | 0:34:01 | |
I don't want to marry him. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
That's not the man God intended for me to be with. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:08 | |
We knew what the rules of the lifestyle was. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
It's amazing how we follow the rules of the game. | 0:34:20 | 0:34:25 | |
But people got to understand the word "game." | 0:34:25 | 0:34:27 | |
Games are made to lose. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:30 | |
You do not win the game every time. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:34 | |
So we were gambling and throwing | 0:34:34 | 0:34:36 | |
the dice with our life at every turn. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:39 | |
Every car we got in. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:41 | |
Even if you were on Backpage | 0:34:42 | 0:34:45 | |
or you were doing phone sex. | 0:34:45 | 0:34:48 | |
Where did it get us? | 0:34:48 | 0:34:51 | |
What did you end up having to show for it? | 0:34:51 | 0:34:53 | |
Hello. How are you doing? | 0:35:06 | 0:35:09 | |
-Nice to see you. -Good. How are you? | 0:35:09 | 0:35:10 | |
A few days after she disappeared, | 0:35:10 | 0:35:13 | |
Savannah was back to pick up some of her things. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:16 | |
You sure you don't want to stay? | 0:35:16 | 0:35:18 | |
I'm positive. | 0:35:18 | 0:35:19 | |
-You know I love you, yes? -Yes. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:23 | |
And we gon' fight, no matter what. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:25 | |
But I don't want you to die. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:26 | |
So I'm here. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:29 | |
Oh, man. | 0:35:29 | 0:35:31 | |
I know exactly what she's going to go do. | 0:35:33 | 0:35:36 | |
She's going to go trick. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:37 | |
She's going to go hoe again. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:39 | |
She's going to go use. She's already... I mean, she looked | 0:35:39 | 0:35:41 | |
messed up when she came in. | 0:35:41 | 0:35:43 | |
I'm scared for her. | 0:35:45 | 0:35:46 | |
Because of her case, or just because it's a high-risk lifestyle? | 0:35:48 | 0:35:52 | |
It's a high-risk lifestyle... | 0:35:52 | 0:35:53 | |
..and then the case. | 0:35:55 | 0:35:56 | |
Savannah had signed up as an outpatient in the programme, | 0:36:00 | 0:36:03 | |
but there was some doubt as to whether she'd follow through. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
And either way, being on the outside put her at risk of reprisals from | 0:36:06 | 0:36:10 | |
her first pimp, whom she testified against. | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
Why are you leaving? | 0:36:13 | 0:36:15 | |
I'm tired of being here. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:18 | |
So you were turning tricks while you were here? | 0:36:18 | 0:36:21 | |
When I got on the HUD side, yes. | 0:36:21 | 0:36:23 | |
And while I've been on treatment side, yes. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:25 | |
-Not as much as I was. -How? | 0:36:25 | 0:36:27 | |
I'd go and pass like they are now. Going to the bus stop. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
I just wouldn't go to the meeting and go work, and then... | 0:36:30 | 0:36:33 | |
Go work where? | 0:36:33 | 0:36:35 | |
Right here. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:36 | |
How? | 0:36:36 | 0:36:38 | |
Just walk. Wait until somebody comes to pick you up. | 0:36:38 | 0:36:41 | |
-Someone you know? -No. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
Just some random person rolls down the window. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
Have you been in touch with your pimp? Your old... | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
No, I lost all connections. | 0:36:52 | 0:36:54 | |
-Trafficker? -I did go back to him. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:56 | |
The reason some women are with pimps is for protection. | 0:36:56 | 0:37:00 | |
I started getting scared that the one that got locked up | 0:37:01 | 0:37:05 | |
was going to find me. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:06 | |
I was there for about, like, three days. | 0:37:06 | 0:37:09 | |
Him and his other girl that he had there were constantly fighting, | 0:37:09 | 0:37:12 | |
and I have bad PTSD, | 0:37:12 | 0:37:14 | |
so when people start yelling around me, I start shaking. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
So I told him, "I can't do this. | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
"I need you to buy me a bus ticket home." | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
Are you worried about your safety, given the case, and... | 0:37:22 | 0:37:26 | |
..your role? | 0:37:28 | 0:37:29 | |
He sent death threats out to all the females that testified. | 0:37:29 | 0:37:33 | |
But at the same time... | 0:37:33 | 0:37:34 | |
..me testifying, I got my power back that he took from me. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:41 | |
And so by me being scared for the rest of my life that he might | 0:37:41 | 0:37:45 | |
find me, he might do something to me, | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
that's him also having my power. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:50 | |
-Good luck. -Thank you. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:57 | |
Successful recovery at Santa Maria often takes numerous attempts. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:07 | |
In spite of all the training and support, | 0:38:09 | 0:38:11 | |
the ties of the old life do not break easily. | 0:38:11 | 0:38:14 | |
The boredom of months of therapy, | 0:38:16 | 0:38:18 | |
and limited options in the square world, | 0:38:18 | 0:38:20 | |
leading many to go back to what they know. | 0:38:20 | 0:38:22 | |
What I wrote is the thing that we work on in treatment. | 0:38:26 | 0:38:29 | |
We work on your biopsychosocial. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:32 | |
We start with you biologically. | 0:38:32 | 0:38:34 | |
We deal with you psychologically, | 0:38:34 | 0:38:36 | |
and then we address you sociologically. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
It was Thursday night, | 0:38:38 | 0:38:39 | |
and Counsellor Tonia was teaching her weekly family class. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:43 | |
Now, I don't know how many of y'all dropped your family member off | 0:38:43 | 0:38:48 | |
to treatment. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:50 | |
And I don't know if you remember what she looked like | 0:38:50 | 0:38:52 | |
when she got here. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:54 | |
Right? | 0:38:55 | 0:38:56 | |
OK, but she has a very distinct walk. | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
Let me show you the "I'm coming to treatment" walk. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:02 | |
All right? | 0:39:02 | 0:39:03 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:39:05 | 0:39:07 | |
What's dragging behind me is my plastic bag of clothes. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
Among those in the audience were Danisha and a male visitor. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:15 | |
-Keith? -Keith. -Louis. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:17 | |
-Nice to meet you. -How are you doing? -Good. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:18 | |
How are you and Danisha connected? | 0:39:18 | 0:39:21 | |
I've been knowing Danisha about six months, roughly six months, now. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:25 | |
I left my wife a year and a half ago, | 0:39:25 | 0:39:27 | |
and I've been living in a hotel, cos I'm a local truck driver. | 0:39:27 | 0:39:31 | |
And I met her at the hotel I was staying at. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:33 | |
When I found out that, you know, she was, sort of, prostituting, | 0:39:33 | 0:39:38 | |
I found her attractive, so I became one of her clients. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:41 | |
Had you used the services of a professional sex worker before? | 0:39:41 | 0:39:45 | |
No. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:46 | |
Cos I was married for 13 years. | 0:39:46 | 0:39:48 | |
And you were faithful to your wife? | 0:39:48 | 0:39:50 | |
-Totally. -Was she with, um... | 0:39:50 | 0:39:52 | |
..a... | 0:39:53 | 0:39:55 | |
I was not. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:57 | |
It was after that. | 0:39:57 | 0:39:59 | |
-I was wondering what he's about to say. A pimp? -Yes. -No, not at all. | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
I would never fool with a girl who had a pimp. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
-Why's that? -Pimps are too aggressive and too dangerous. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:08 | |
They'll set you up, rob you, can't be trusted. | 0:40:08 | 0:40:11 | |
If you would beat up a woman, how can I trust you? | 0:40:11 | 0:40:14 | |
So, Keith, you knew that Danisha used to have a pimp. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
-No. -You didn't know that? | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
-That's news to you. -Mm-hm. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:23 | |
Are you surprised? | 0:40:23 | 0:40:24 | |
Not really. | 0:40:24 | 0:40:26 | |
Not really. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:29 | |
It's a good thing she don't have one no more. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:34 | |
-Cos then it's not healthy for her, you know. -I know. | 0:40:34 | 0:40:37 | |
-I'm done, like... -Right. | 0:40:37 | 0:40:40 | |
How did you feel about the relationship... | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
Was it even a relationship? | 0:40:46 | 0:40:48 | |
I would say no. | 0:40:48 | 0:40:50 | |
-What was it? -Cos we barely knew each other. | 0:40:50 | 0:40:52 | |
It was just, like, a | 0:40:52 | 0:40:54 | |
casual encounter. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:56 | |
A casual hook up. | 0:40:56 | 0:40:58 | |
-Over how many... -Two or three times a week. | 0:40:58 | 0:41:00 | |
-For how long? -That probably went on for about three weeks to a month? | 0:41:00 | 0:41:04 | |
Yeah. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:06 | |
And then? | 0:41:06 | 0:41:07 | |
And then she got arrested. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:09 | |
-You enjoyed it. That's why you were paying for it. -Mm-hm. | 0:41:09 | 0:41:12 | |
And did you enjoy it? | 0:41:12 | 0:41:13 | |
-Yeah, I did. -Do you have to say that, or... | 0:41:15 | 0:41:19 | |
I did. I really did. I didn't show him. | 0:41:19 | 0:41:22 | |
I might have didn't tell him. | 0:41:22 | 0:41:24 | |
But in my head I was like, "Oh, my God. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:26 | |
"This is the best!" | 0:41:26 | 0:41:28 | |
-HE CHUCKLES -Yeah, right. -I'm serious. | 0:41:28 | 0:41:31 | |
Yeah, right. Mm-hm. | 0:41:31 | 0:41:33 | |
Do you have trouble believing that? | 0:41:33 | 0:41:35 | |
Not really. A little bit. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:39 | |
Sometimes you second-guess. | 0:41:39 | 0:41:40 | |
I'll take her word for it. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:42 | |
Yeah. | 0:41:42 | 0:41:43 | |
I'll be honest, I don't know whether to believe it or not. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:46 | |
Right. | 0:41:46 | 0:41:47 | |
I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:50 | |
Because it could be part of a hustle, right? | 0:41:50 | 0:41:52 | |
It's not, though. I mean, I don't look for satisfaction, but if it's | 0:41:52 | 0:41:56 | |
good, it's good. I just don't let it show or let it be known. | 0:41:56 | 0:41:59 | |
It's strictly business. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:01 | |
So what's your relationship now, then? | 0:42:01 | 0:42:03 | |
-Just good friends. -Just friends? | 0:42:03 | 0:42:05 | |
-Mm-hm. -But would you like it to be something more, Keith? | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
You know, I really don't even think about that. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
Do you still bring her little gifts? | 0:42:10 | 0:42:13 | |
I come every week, give her 30. You know, to keep in her pocket. | 0:42:13 | 0:42:16 | |
Today, I brought her all kinds of toiletries. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:21 | |
Is it possible you're still being hustled a little bit? | 0:42:21 | 0:42:25 | |
-How dare you! -Probably not. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:27 | |
-You didn't like that? -No! | 0:42:27 | 0:42:29 | |
-Why not? -Because that's not what's going on. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:32 | |
She calls me at least every other day. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:33 | |
Danisha calls you every other day? | 0:42:33 | 0:42:35 | |
-Sometimes two, three days in a row. -Just to what? -Talk. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:38 | |
-Just conversate, have somebody to talk to. -Just check up on him. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:40 | |
-So you like him? -I do. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:43 | |
For a stranger that I met in my hustle to still stand by my side... | 0:42:43 | 0:42:48 | |
..I wish there was more people like him in this world. | 0:42:50 | 0:42:53 | |
Thank you for that. That was quite heart-warming. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:57 | |
You're welcome. Thank y'all. | 0:42:57 | 0:42:59 | |
You good, baby? You're good, darling. You're good. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:02 | |
It was the early hours of the morning, | 0:43:17 | 0:43:19 | |
and I was back on Bissonnet. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:21 | |
Nikki was on shift, under the ever watchful eye of her pimp. | 0:43:25 | 0:43:29 | |
-Hello. -Hi. | 0:43:30 | 0:43:32 | |
Nosey ass nigga. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:34 | |
He's like... Bye! | 0:43:34 | 0:43:36 | |
-How are you doing? -Go. Go right. -You want to go? | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
I just want to get off this area. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:42 | |
I just told him I got picked up so | 0:43:42 | 0:43:45 | |
he wouldn't be like, "Where you at?" | 0:43:45 | 0:43:48 | |
I don't really look at myself like I'm drop-dead gorgeous, | 0:43:48 | 0:43:50 | |
but I know I'm not ugly. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:53 | |
I think you look great. | 0:43:53 | 0:43:55 | |
He said I looked like a rock star today. I was like, "What!" | 0:43:55 | 0:43:57 | |
-You do. -He's like, "Now go get some rock star money!" | 0:43:57 | 0:43:59 | |
-You've got that sort of Joan Jett... -See, the other thing about a pimp, | 0:43:59 | 0:44:02 | |
they have to motivate you and keep you feeling good | 0:44:02 | 0:44:05 | |
about yourself. Because if they're ragging on you all the time, | 0:44:05 | 0:44:07 | |
making you feel like shit, then that's how you're going to feel. | 0:44:07 | 0:44:10 | |
-Are we good to go? -Yeah. | 0:44:10 | 0:44:12 | |
You know, before when we spoke to you and you became distraught, | 0:44:12 | 0:44:16 | |
do you remember? | 0:44:16 | 0:44:18 | |
You were upset because you'd lost some money. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:20 | |
SHE GROANS | 0:44:20 | 0:44:21 | |
-And you started... -I was honest with him about that, though. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:24 | |
You got into a tizz. Do you remember? | 0:44:24 | 0:44:25 | |
Yeah, because there's consequences to my actions. You know what I mean? | 0:44:25 | 0:44:30 | |
You were really upset. You seemed scared. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:32 | |
I mean, nobody likes being punished. | 0:44:34 | 0:44:35 | |
Nobody likes being in trouble. | 0:44:35 | 0:44:37 | |
Is that what it was about? | 0:44:37 | 0:44:39 | |
I mean, I was texting, talking shit, the other night. He pulled up, | 0:44:39 | 0:44:43 | |
picked me up and punched me in the mouth cos I was disrespectful. | 0:44:43 | 0:44:45 | |
You know what I mean? They take that shit seriously. | 0:44:45 | 0:44:48 | |
Would you be able to read out some texts to get a flavour of how | 0:44:48 | 0:44:52 | |
he talks to you? | 0:44:52 | 0:44:54 | |
Um... | 0:44:54 | 0:44:55 | |
And how you talk to each other? | 0:44:57 | 0:44:59 | |
Cos you just said you were being, um, | 0:44:59 | 0:45:02 | |
disrespectful. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:03 | |
The first message I have, it says, "I'm your little Italian soldier." | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
He said, "Fucking right, bitch." | 0:45:08 | 0:45:10 | |
And then I was on the track, and I was walking and talking to somebody, | 0:45:10 | 0:45:14 | |
and he drove by, and he texted me and said, | 0:45:14 | 0:45:16 | |
"This is your first warning. Stop talking, bitch, and get active." | 0:45:16 | 0:45:19 | |
I said, "I am, Daddy." | 0:45:19 | 0:45:20 | |
He said, "Get picked up. I'm getting pissed." | 0:45:20 | 0:45:23 | |
Cos I was out there for, like, three or four hours. | 0:45:23 | 0:45:25 | |
I said, "I do good when I'm in good spirits, not a hot mess. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
"You feel me?" He said, "Yes, bitch." | 0:45:28 | 0:45:31 | |
Was that after he'd punched you? | 0:45:31 | 0:45:33 | |
-Mm-hm. -So you're putting a marker down saying that you don't | 0:45:33 | 0:45:36 | |
appreciate him putting his hands on you, right? | 0:45:36 | 0:45:39 | |
He knows that, though. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:41 | |
-You said you've only been doing this a year and a half? -Mm-hm. | 0:45:41 | 0:45:44 | |
-But you feel OK with it? -Mm-hm. | 0:45:44 | 0:45:47 | |
I love what I do. I accept it. | 0:45:47 | 0:45:49 | |
I'm not ashamed of it. Like... | 0:45:49 | 0:45:52 | |
I feel like in some aspects, I help people. | 0:45:52 | 0:45:55 | |
I mean, pleasure is good. | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
Who don't like to have sex? Like, come on. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:00 | |
I mean, I hear you. | 0:46:00 | 0:46:03 | |
And at the same time, I've been talking to other women involved in | 0:46:03 | 0:46:06 | |
sex work, and almost to a one | 0:46:06 | 0:46:09 | |
they've said, "But the pimp thing is not good." | 0:46:09 | 0:46:12 | |
The pimps are... | 0:46:12 | 0:46:14 | |
It depends on the way you look at it, though... | 0:46:14 | 0:46:16 | |
-..predatory and parasitic. -..or who you're with. | 0:46:16 | 0:46:18 | |
It just depends on who you're with. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:20 | |
He makes me a better person. | 0:46:20 | 0:46:22 | |
How is he making you better? | 0:46:22 | 0:46:24 | |
I'm smarter. | 0:46:24 | 0:46:25 | |
I'm stronger. | 0:46:25 | 0:46:27 | |
And he takes all the money. | 0:46:27 | 0:46:29 | |
He doesn't take it. I hand it to him. | 0:46:29 | 0:46:31 | |
But if I want anything, I just ask him. | 0:46:32 | 0:46:34 | |
You wouldn't rather have your own money? | 0:46:34 | 0:46:37 | |
I'm really bad with money. I'm not a financial person. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:41 | |
Before, I was married, my husband did all that stuff. | 0:46:41 | 0:46:45 | |
It seems quite precarious if he's got all your money. In a year, | 0:46:45 | 0:46:49 | |
or six months, or ten years, say something happens, right? | 0:46:49 | 0:46:52 | |
And you have a falling out, and then you leave, | 0:46:52 | 0:46:56 | |
and what do you have to show for it? | 0:46:56 | 0:46:58 | |
SHE CHUCKLES | 0:47:01 | 0:47:02 | |
Not much. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:05 | |
There's no part of you that wants to get away from him? | 0:47:08 | 0:47:11 | |
Uh-uh. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:14 | |
-Not even a little bit. -Really? | 0:47:15 | 0:47:18 | |
I'm devoted and dedicated. | 0:47:18 | 0:47:19 | |
I left convinced of the wrongness of Nikki's choices, | 0:47:27 | 0:47:31 | |
but also baffled as to how to break through. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:33 | |
By now I'd realised | 0:47:35 | 0:47:37 | |
that for all the women I'd met who'd been trafficked and pimped, | 0:47:37 | 0:47:40 | |
there was a pull deeper than the money or the drama, | 0:47:40 | 0:47:42 | |
or in some cases the drugs. | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
A need to feel valued and to show love. | 0:47:45 | 0:47:48 | |
In a role of providing professional intimacy, | 0:47:51 | 0:47:54 | |
it struck me that the women were also at the mercy of their own | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
feelings when it came to their pimps. | 0:47:57 | 0:47:59 | |
Perhaps none more so than Danisha. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
Caught between her roommate Jax, | 0:48:06 | 0:48:09 | |
her old pimp, and Keith. | 0:48:09 | 0:48:11 | |
You know, it was nice meeting Keith. | 0:48:13 | 0:48:15 | |
-Was it? -What are your feelings for him? | 0:48:15 | 0:48:17 | |
SHE SIGHS | 0:48:17 | 0:48:19 | |
I mean... | 0:48:19 | 0:48:20 | |
I appreciate him, and I... | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
I've got love for him. | 0:48:24 | 0:48:26 | |
I wouldn't necessarily say that I could right now, at this point, | 0:48:27 | 0:48:31 | |
see myself in a relationship with anybody. | 0:48:31 | 0:48:34 | |
You seem to be in relationships with three people. | 0:48:34 | 0:48:37 | |
Who? | 0:48:37 | 0:48:38 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:48:38 | 0:48:39 | |
Who? I am not in a relationship with anybody. | 0:48:39 | 0:48:42 | |
Of a sort. Well, there's Keith. | 0:48:42 | 0:48:44 | |
There's also your old pimp who is imprisoned, | 0:48:45 | 0:48:49 | |
and then there's Jax. | 0:48:49 | 0:48:51 | |
OK. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:52 | |
I'm not in a relationship with Jax. Jax is, like, my best friend. | 0:48:52 | 0:48:56 | |
Which one are you most attracted to? | 0:48:56 | 0:48:58 | |
Hmm... | 0:48:58 | 0:48:59 | |
You want me to be honest? | 0:49:00 | 0:49:02 | |
The one in jail. | 0:49:03 | 0:49:04 | |
Yeah. | 0:49:07 | 0:49:08 | |
He's the one who's treated you worst, I suppose. | 0:49:10 | 0:49:13 | |
-Yeah. -And he pimped you out, right, if that's the right term? | 0:49:13 | 0:49:17 | |
-Yeah. -He put you out on the track, right? | 0:49:17 | 0:49:20 | |
-Yeah, you could say that. -And he was physical with you? | 0:49:20 | 0:49:22 | |
-Yes. -What has he got that you don't get in the other two | 0:49:22 | 0:49:26 | |
relationships? | 0:49:26 | 0:49:27 | |
When Keith talks to me, | 0:49:30 | 0:49:32 | |
Keith talks to me about always wanting to have sex. | 0:49:32 | 0:49:35 | |
"I can't wait till you can leave so I can come and get you | 0:49:35 | 0:49:39 | |
"and take you out to eat and, you know, do this and do that." | 0:49:39 | 0:49:44 | |
But with T, what does he talk to you about? | 0:49:44 | 0:49:47 | |
He loves me and | 0:49:47 | 0:49:49 | |
he don't want to lose me. He wants me to be a part of his life. | 0:49:49 | 0:49:52 | |
I'm his life. | 0:49:52 | 0:49:54 | |
You had a physical relationship? | 0:49:54 | 0:49:56 | |
Yes. | 0:49:56 | 0:49:57 | |
But it's more emotional now with him. | 0:49:59 | 0:50:01 | |
Do you think that's true of pimps in general? | 0:50:01 | 0:50:03 | |
It's... What... | 0:50:05 | 0:50:06 | |
Well, that they are... | 0:50:06 | 0:50:08 | |
They can push your buttons emotionally, | 0:50:08 | 0:50:10 | |
and part of their control is that... | 0:50:10 | 0:50:14 | |
..you can't manipulate them sexually. | 0:50:19 | 0:50:22 | |
I can, though. I have. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:25 | |
-With T? -Yes. | 0:50:25 | 0:50:27 | |
He likes the way I do things in bed. | 0:50:27 | 0:50:30 | |
-T does? -Yes. | 0:50:30 | 0:50:32 | |
There's not a day we didn't sleep in the bed together | 0:50:32 | 0:50:35 | |
that we didn't have sex. | 0:50:35 | 0:50:36 | |
-You and T? -Yeah. | 0:50:36 | 0:50:38 | |
When you look into your heart | 0:50:39 | 0:50:41 | |
and you see that there's a part of you that wants that, right, | 0:50:41 | 0:50:44 | |
or wanted it... | 0:50:44 | 0:50:45 | |
-Wanted it. -What is it? Is it just a... Sort of an emotional... | 0:50:45 | 0:50:49 | |
You know, a sense of pleasure that you get in providing for someone? | 0:50:49 | 0:50:56 | |
Taking care of business? | 0:50:56 | 0:50:58 | |
It is, because it makes me feel like I'm in control. | 0:50:58 | 0:51:01 | |
You can see how looking at it another way, it's almost a kind of | 0:51:01 | 0:51:07 | |
servitude, you know, a kind of... | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
-Being submissive? -Mm-hm. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:12 | |
Yeah. | 0:51:12 | 0:51:14 | |
If you know my background, | 0:51:14 | 0:51:16 | |
me growing up, I always had to be submissive. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:20 | |
I started being molested at the age of three. | 0:51:20 | 0:51:23 | |
"No, no, I don't want to. "I don't want to." | 0:51:26 | 0:51:29 | |
"If you tell, you're going to be in big trouble, | 0:51:29 | 0:51:32 | |
"or I'm going to kill you." | 0:51:32 | 0:51:34 | |
Put fear in me. | 0:51:34 | 0:51:36 | |
Who did it? | 0:51:36 | 0:51:37 | |
A lot of people. | 0:51:38 | 0:51:40 | |
A lot of people. | 0:51:41 | 0:51:42 | |
My mom even knows. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:45 | |
It was two of her boyfriends. | 0:51:45 | 0:51:46 | |
I hate for people to try to judge me about my lifestyle. | 0:51:48 | 0:51:52 | |
I really do. | 0:51:52 | 0:51:54 | |
Because no-one knows what I've been through. | 0:51:54 | 0:51:57 | |
No-one knows where I come from. | 0:51:57 | 0:51:59 | |
And I just thought that | 0:52:01 | 0:52:03 | |
the person that I loved was the one who was going to save me, | 0:52:03 | 0:52:06 | |
rescue me from all of the feelings and emotions that I endured | 0:52:06 | 0:52:10 | |
inside of me. | 0:52:10 | 0:52:12 | |
But, now, when I see it and I explain it to you guys, | 0:52:12 | 0:52:16 | |
in my head it's like, "No, that's not what was happening." | 0:52:16 | 0:52:20 | |
Do you mean with T? | 0:52:20 | 0:52:22 | |
Yeah. I was being used. | 0:52:22 | 0:52:24 | |
I'm being used by Keith. | 0:52:24 | 0:52:25 | |
I'm just, like, being used. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:28 | |
I don't know if that's true, you know? | 0:52:29 | 0:52:32 | |
I mean, I hope that's not what you think I've been saying. | 0:52:32 | 0:52:34 | |
I think... | 0:52:34 | 0:52:36 | |
You know, relationships are complicated. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:41 | |
And I think your relationships with Keith and T and Jax, | 0:52:41 | 0:52:48 | |
they're all two-way streets, and in your own way, | 0:52:48 | 0:52:51 | |
you have been powerful in those relationships. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:54 | |
With my time in Houston nearly up, I had one last appointment. | 0:53:11 | 0:53:14 | |
-How's it going? -It's going good. | 0:53:17 | 0:53:19 | |
Savannah was now back on her own in the world. | 0:53:20 | 0:53:23 | |
We'd arranged to meet for coffee. | 0:53:27 | 0:53:29 | |
So the sense I had from Santa Maria is that you're at risk out here | 0:53:31 | 0:53:36 | |
of relapse into drugs and relapse into sex work. | 0:53:36 | 0:53:39 | |
How does that sit with you, | 0:53:40 | 0:53:41 | |
that image, is that accurate? Is it fair? | 0:53:41 | 0:53:43 | |
No, I am in recovery. | 0:53:45 | 0:53:47 | |
I do care about my recovery. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 | |
I felt like I was going nowhere in Santa Maria. | 0:53:50 | 0:53:53 | |
But out here? | 0:53:55 | 0:53:57 | |
What do you feel? Where do you feel you're going out here? | 0:53:57 | 0:53:59 | |
I'm getting a job. | 0:54:01 | 0:54:02 | |
-Going to start working. -Where? | 0:54:04 | 0:54:07 | |
I'm going to go apply for applications tomorrow. | 0:54:07 | 0:54:09 | |
-What kind of job? -Any job, Subway. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:12 | |
I'm applying a bunch of different places, front desk clerk. | 0:54:12 | 0:54:16 | |
And the going back to the life, | 0:54:16 | 0:54:19 | |
I mean, maybe in another person's eyes that would be relapsing, | 0:54:19 | 0:54:23 | |
but I never promised that I wouldn't go back and do it. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:28 | |
What is it that is making you think a little bit, like, | 0:54:28 | 0:54:32 | |
it's still an option? | 0:54:32 | 0:54:33 | |
I don't have a job. | 0:54:35 | 0:54:36 | |
-And it's easy? -It's easy. | 0:54:38 | 0:54:40 | |
Is it a little bit exciting? | 0:54:41 | 0:54:43 | |
Mm-hm. Oh, it absolutely is. The rush. | 0:54:44 | 0:54:48 | |
It's like another addiction. It really is. | 0:54:48 | 0:54:52 | |
Do you think there's a way of doing the sex work | 0:54:52 | 0:54:55 | |
in a healthy way? | 0:54:55 | 0:54:57 | |
I don't know. There's a part of me that just completely wants to just | 0:54:57 | 0:55:00 | |
stop it, cos I know that I'm better than it. | 0:55:00 | 0:55:02 | |
And that's not what I need to be doing with my life. | 0:55:02 | 0:55:06 | |
And I could absolutely be doing a whole bunch of other things, | 0:55:06 | 0:55:10 | |
but then another part of me is like... | 0:55:10 | 0:55:12 | |
For some reason, doesn't want to let that go. | 0:55:14 | 0:55:17 | |
Why? | 0:55:17 | 0:55:18 | |
A big part of me is scared that I'm not going to be successful, | 0:55:20 | 0:55:23 | |
that I'm going to fail somewhere. | 0:55:23 | 0:55:25 | |
And that | 0:55:25 | 0:55:27 | |
I might as well just stick to doing this... | 0:55:27 | 0:55:30 | |
..instead of go and fail. | 0:55:31 | 0:55:33 | |
But at the same time, I just... I don't know... | 0:55:33 | 0:55:37 | |
Do you think you'd ever get back with a pimp? | 0:55:38 | 0:55:41 | |
No, I don't. | 0:55:44 | 0:55:45 | |
No longer will I allow a man to | 0:55:47 | 0:55:51 | |
tell me what to do, or to disrespect me, | 0:55:51 | 0:55:56 | |
or to hit me, or... | 0:55:56 | 0:55:57 | |
..I give my money to them. | 0:55:59 | 0:56:01 | |
I will no longer allow that. | 0:56:03 | 0:56:05 | |
Cos I know when I was out here, I didn't think there was any hope. | 0:56:23 | 0:56:26 | |
-I don't either. -I thought the older I got, | 0:56:26 | 0:56:29 | |
because I was out here for 21 years... | 0:56:29 | 0:56:31 | |
I'm going on 13. | 0:56:31 | 0:56:33 | |
I had a baby over on 40th 1/2. | 0:56:33 | 0:56:35 | |
It may be that as long as there are extremes of vulnerability, | 0:56:35 | 0:56:40 | |
coerced prostitution will be with us. | 0:56:40 | 0:56:42 | |
-Thank y'all for coming to see me! -Bye, baby. -Goodbye! | 0:56:43 | 0:56:46 | |
In Houston, | 0:56:46 | 0:56:47 | |
I'd seen women from backgrounds of abuse meeting the most basic | 0:56:47 | 0:56:51 | |
human needs by seeking out what they knew best. | 0:56:51 | 0:56:54 | |
You have a vision. You just can't see it cos it's too dark out here. | 0:56:54 | 0:56:58 | |
Cruelty that felt comfortable. | 0:56:58 | 0:57:00 | |
What time do I need to pick you up Monday? | 0:57:03 | 0:57:06 | |
It had struck me as both bizarre and deeply understandable. | 0:57:06 | 0:57:11 | |
But it was also true that a few | 0:57:11 | 0:57:13 | |
were finding their way back to the light. | 0:57:13 | 0:57:16 | |
Got her! | 0:57:16 | 0:57:17 | |
I love you. You're going to be fine. | 0:57:17 | 0:57:19 |