 Michael Stipe, the lead singer of R.E.M., helped to produce it.In a 2004 issue of "Feminist Studies", Dunye stated that she worked with actual female inmates to produce the script.Treasure Lee (Yolonda Ross) learns that her biological mother Brownie (Davenia McFadden) is incarcerated in an adult prison, so she purposely gets into trouble in order to be transferred from a juvenile facility to an adult women's facility in order to meet her.