Cynthia Butler’s anger evolved into activism after Amanda Lane died at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in February 2022.
The state medical examiner concluded that Lane, a 38-year-old prisoner serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, used a drawstring from a pair of shorts to hang herself in the early morning hours of Feb. 28, 2022.
But Butler, who served 13 years at Mabel Bassett before a federal judge overturned her conviction in 2000, said she started receiving reports from women at the prison that Lane was assaulted with no staff intervention before her death. Those claims were not addressed in the medical examiner’s report, though the investigator noted lacerations on Lane’s lower back and under her right eyelid.
Unsatisfied with the information she was receiving from the state, Butler started advocating for a transparency initiative that most police departments have adopted: Requiring corrections officers to wear body-worn cameras while on duty.
“If the prisons had body cameras on their officers, there wouldn’t be any speculation on what happened,” Butler said. “I know things can be misconstrued, and inmates aren’t given the benefit of the doubt. But I’ve seen a lot of things I wish I had never seen.”