Killer Wins Beauty Pageant In Women's Prison | TRULY

A PRISON beauty pageant has been won by a woman convicted of murdering her lover – and now she wants to be a model. In its thirteenth year, the annual Miss Talavera Bruce beauty pageant is held in unlikely surroundings: a women’s prison in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Instituto Penal Talavera is the only maximum-security women’s prison in the city with inmates serving life sentences for murder, fraud and drug trafficking. But for one day each year, a handful of the inmates are judged on something other than their crimes: ‘their beauty and attitude’ as they vie for the first place sash and title of Miss Talavera Bruce - or ‘TB Girl’ as it is referred to. Out of the estimated hundreds of inmates at the prison, only 10 make it the pageant, the selection based on behaviour records. As well as dressing up and getting their hair and makeup done, the pageant provides a rare opportunity to see beloved family members somewhere other than the visitation room – and in some cases it’s the only time inmates get to see their children.