Keiana Aldrich needs Justice
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of sexual abuse, suicide and self-harm.
Keiana Aldrich is a 25-year-old survivor of human trafficking who has been unfairly imprisoned for the last eight years. When Aldrich was 17, she was arrested and prosecuted like an adult for her coerced participation in the robbery of two men whose intention had been to buy her for sex acts and child pornography. During COVID, she has been isolated at the California Institution for Women with little access to mental health services, despite her deteriorating mental health and suicide attempts. In light of the injustices she is facing, Aldrich is now petitioning CA Gov. Gavin Newsom for clemency.
Although she has just eight months left of her sentence, her harsh prison conditions are yet another reminder of her unfair imprisonment. She has been subject to unnecessary, dangerous and unjust conditions, including restricted access to mental health services, severe isolation as a result of the pandemic and mistreatment at the hands of authority figures. Aldrich has found it difficult to cope with the pandemic, struggling with her mental health and with the consequences of reporting sexual abuse while in prison. Her latest suicide attempt involved cutting her neck and wrists with razor blades and swallowing two of them.
Aldrich grew up in an abusive home. She was first sexually abused when she was 4 by her father. At 12, Aldrich began running away from home to separate herself from her mom’s physically abusive boyfriend.
“It bothered her a lot,” said Tracey Aldrich, her mother. “She felt like she was helpless, so she would leave.”
She was then sexually exploited by the people she would encounter in the streets. She was sent to juvenile hall several times for running away from home between the ages of 13 and 17, and she was never provided intervention or mental health services.
At 16, Aldrich was arrested with a female pimp who had been trafficking her for sex. She testified against the pimp in court, believing that Sacramento County prosecutors would provide her counseling and a safe home in exchange. Instead, her testimony only convicted her pimp, and Aldrich was denied refuge from her deteriorating situation. At 17, a member of a gang-involved family she was living with started trafficking her. Her trafficker then accepted an online ad from two men to sell Aldrich to produce child pornography.
During this exchange, Aldrich and her trafficker robbed the two men and forced them in buying goods and giving them money in a store. Caught on a surveillance camera, Aldrich was charged as an adult. Her plea led to a ten-year conviction in prison, while the two men who attempted to solicit her were never charged.
She has since faced eight years of unjust imprisonment as a result of the crime, which she was forced to participate in by her trafficker. This has remained the case despite California changing its laws around so-called “willful” child prostitution. It discontinued the treatment of exploited minors as criminals and included measures allowing previous convictions of trafficked victims to be eliminated and their records sealed.
Use the hashtag #JusticeForKeiana. Share her story on all social media platforms. The more advocates for her story, the greater the chance that justice will be served.
Aldrich now asks Governor Gavin Newsom for clemency. If her convictions had happened after these laws were implemented, she would not have been considered a criminal. She dreams of becoming a counselor to help others who have gone through similar circumstances. However, she finds herself isolated in a prison instead of having her original convictions forgiven.
“Being locked in a room 24 hours a day except to shower sucks...and it makes me go crazy,” Aldrich said.
Aldrich still battles with sexual exploitation in prison. She filed allegations of sexual abuse against a prison guard and three staff members at the California Insitute of Women. She claims that they individually forced her to engage in sex acts or sexually molested her. As a result, the guard was terminated from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the civilian staff members discontinued their state employment.
But she believes she is being punished for her allegations. She lost her job in the prison hospital where she earned 45 cents an hour and was put on “administrative segregation.” This placed her in conditions similar to solitary confinement. Yet Aldrich stays firm that she wants her history, her suicide attempts and her story to be told. By telling the truth, she wants to give purpose to the pain she feels through her life story.
The system has failed Keiana Aldrich. Her story needs to be told to bring about survivor decriminalization policies, prison system reform and the issuance of mental health services. Aldrich is a survivor and a victim who deserves to receive compassionate action and legislation.
Help bring justice to Keiana Aldrich by signing her petition. It will help amplify her voice and denounce the unlawful imprisonment she has experienced. This will bring light to her situation and urge Governor Gavin Newsom to grant her clemency.
About the Author
Elle Magaña Mireles is a Latinx sustainable fashion advocate based in Chicago, IL. She believes clothing can be a gateway to creating a more just and humane world by bringing about global, positive change. In her free time, she writes for her sustainable fashion blog called Just Irenic, spends quality time in nature, and takes courses on social justice.