Brown’s jail wedding was over the phone
Tennessee law allowed her to be married by proxy
Cyntoia Brown did not go to her own wedding.
Brown married Christian hip hop artist Jamie Long before she was released from prison last week.
Brown, who was incarcerated at the Tennessee Prison for Women, was married by proxy, the Tennessee Department of Corrections confirmed.
The pair got married over the phone.
Under Tennessee law, incarcerated people can apply for a marriage license to wed by proxy, which allows the parties to be legally married without having to be in the same room or sign a marriage certificate at the same time.
A proxy in this situation is another person legally designated to represent another person — someone else was able to act as Brown’s legal stand-in.
The same law allows similar freedoms for people with disabilities and members of the United States Armed Forces. In certain conditions, service members can be wed via video conferencing instead of by designating a proxy.
Brown, TDOC confirmed, did not marry according to regular department policy. She informed the warden that she was married over the phone via a proxy at some point before her release.
TDOC did not immediately release further details on the wedding.
Newlyweds share photos
A series of photos posted Saturday on Instagram show the newlyweds together on Brown’s first weekend as a free woman.
The images were posted to Long’s account. Before breaking out on his own, Long, a La Marque, Texas native who goes by J. Long, was a member of Pretty Ricky, according to a profile in EMCEE. He also is the grandson of guitarist Curtis Long, who played for B.B. King and Bobby “Blue” Bland, and the nephew of Huey Long, who sang and played guitar in The Ink Spots, EMCEE states.
Brown’s publicist, Wes Yoder, confirmed that Long was Brown’s new husband and the photos of the couple were posted to Long’s Instagram.
“They will tell the rest of their story later this fall,” Yoder said.
Brown’s memoir, “Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System,” is slated to be published Oct. 15. It is based on her writings from her 15 years of incarceration.
High-profile case
Brown, whose high profile clemency case put heavy scrutiny on Tennessee’s harsh sentencing laws, was freed early Wednesday.
Brown was convicted in the 2004 murder of a 43-year-old Nashville real estate agent who, Brown said, picked her up outside a fast food restaurant for sex. She ended up serving 15 years of a life sentence for a crime she committed at age 16. Brown would have served decades longer if not for the intervention of former Gov. Bill Haslam.
Before leaving office, Haslam granted Brown clemency.
Tennessean reporter Holly Meyer contributed to this report. Reach reporter Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean.com or 615-2598344 and on Twitter @Mariahtimms.