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Sylvia Sidney is again in her "victim" mode in Paramount's Ladies of the Big House. Shortly after their wedding, young innocents Kathleen (Sylvia Sidney) and Standish (Gene Raymond) are arrested for murder on circumstantial evidence. The poor kids don't have a chance: the case is being prosecuted by crooked district attorney Doremus (Rockliffe Fellowes), while the local reporters have a field day crucifying Kathleen in the press thanks to her dubious relationship with the dead man. The couple is found guilty, whereupon Kathleen is thrown into a cell block with several hardened female cons. Hoping to save her husband from going to the electric chair, Kathleen participates in a prison break. There are many more hardships and disasters in store for our heroine before she is able to prove Standish's innocence. If the script of Ladies of the Big House seems a bit more authentic than usual, it may be because it was written by an actual prison convict named Ernest Booth.