Sex trafficking is a global scourge. As general awareness of the crime continues to grow, authorities are turning their attention to where these cunning predators lure their prey. The Trap is a riveting documentary from The Guardian about one such setting: an American prison.
This thought-provoking film is the result of years of intensive research. It sheds light on widespread abuse and advertising across regions across the country.
When a young woman is convicted of a drug or advertising offence, her personal details are entered into a national database. The information is public and may include the inmate’s name, age, criminal record and expected release date. Traffickers comb through these databases to target those they believe will be most profitable for them, building relationships through letters and preparing them for eventual recruitment. They earn the trust and loyalty of their victims and promise them a future of safety and unconditional love.
In effect, once released, these inmates enter a world of constant drug use and prostitution under the thumb of the controlling pimp.
“They know we’re weak and hopeless at this point,” said one inmate when he first learned of the plan. Desiring genuine affection and having limited opportunities once released, these women are vulnerable to deceitful sympathy and support from their predators.
The filmmakers speak to women who have lived through the horrors of prison sex trafficking and others who are currently being targeted. Corrections officers ignore some of the methods predators use to target their prey, exposing the lax law enforcement system that allows these traffickers to thrive in their criminal activities. In another installment, imprisoned sex traffickers demonstrate the ease with which they target their victims outside the prison system.
“Trap” also closely follows the case of Richard Rawls, a 75-year-old human trafficker in Orlando, Florida, who conscripted a harem of more than two dozen women from the area prison. Like the film, his 2014 arrest provided much-needed clues to this increasingly publicized crime of defamation and exploitation.
Directed by: Annie Kelly, Mei-Ling McNamara
