“Belly of the Beast” tells the story of Kelli Dillon, one of many women who has been involuntarily sterilized while in prison. A new trailer for Erika Cohn’s documentary sees Dillon teaming up with Cynthia Chandler, a radical human rights lawyer, to expose horrifying reproductive injustice occurring in California prisons by taking on the Department of Corrections.

“The law prohibits sterilizing people in prison for birth control — but they’re doing it anyway,” Chandler says in the spot.

While reading documents about sterilizations, Dillon came to realize that “as a Black woman, my life wasn’t shit.” She adds, “I was very much intimidated by whom I was going up against.” Still, she persists. “We have yet to get a apology. We have yet to be acknowledged. The state has to be made accountable.”

When we asked Cohn what she’d like people to think about after watching “Belly of the Beast” she said, “We witness population control and systemic racism through policing, imprisonment, and a lack of access to healthcare. Our institutions need to be held accountable for how they destroy human dignity, deny the basic human right to family, and devalue Black and Brown lives,” she emphasized. “‘Belly of the Beast’ is a part of the broader conversation that highlights these injustices, advocates for lasting change, and calls for immediate redress and reparation.”

Cohn’s other credits include “The Judge” and “In Football We Trust.” The former won a Peabody and the latter an Emmy.

“Belly of the Beast” opens in theaters October 16. It will air as part of PBS’ “Independent Lens” on November 23.