Her involvement in helping underprivileged women was substantial, being "known for buying girls who had been sold into prostitution, freeing them, and providing for their future." She closed brothels and made pimping a criminal offense. She created a convent on the Asian side of the Dardanelles called the "Metanoia" (Repentance), where the ex-prostitutes could support themselves. Procopius' "Secret History" maintained that instead of preventing forced prostitution (as in "Buildings" 1.9.3ff), Theodora is said to have 'rounded up' 500 prostitutes, confining them to a convent. They sought to escape 'the unwelcome transformation' by leaping over the walls ("SH" 17). On the other hand, chronicler John Malalas who wrote positively about the court, declared she "freed the girls from the yoke of their wretched slavery." A century later, John of Nikiu observed its positive impact, noting that Theodora "put an end to the prostitution of women, and gave orders for their expulsion from every place."