Cindy Shank's Ex-Husband Adam From 'The Sentence' Is Important To Her Family

Cindy Shank, the subject of the new HBO documentary The Sentence, served nine years in federal prison on drug crimes out of the 15 she was sentenced to. During that time, her now ex-husband, Adam Shank, did his best to parent their girls without her. But what is Cindy's ex-husband Adam's job after The Sentence? A lot has changed for the whole Shank family since Cindy was released from jail.

In 2002, Cindy's boyfriend, Alex Humphry, was murdered in a shooting, according to Newsweek. Following his death, the outlet reported, the police searched the home that they shared, and found 20 kilograms of cocaine, a kilogram of crack cocaine, 40 pounds of marijuana, $40,000, and guns in the residence. Cindy was indicted for drug crimes following the discovery, but refused to take a plea bargain for 13 years in prison if she pled guilty because she says she didn't sell the drugs herself and didn't know the extent of her boyfriend's crimes. Eventually, the case was dismissed, and Cindy was released and went back to living her life.

But years later, law enforcement authorities revived the charges against Cindy and arrested her. Her trial resulted in a 15-year mandatory-minimum sentence in a federal prison, and Cindy spent almost nine years almost entirely away from her daughters, Autumn, Ava and Annalis, according to The Washington Post.

After Cindy was free to go the first time and not put on trial, she met Adam and they got married and had their three girls, according to The Detroit Free Press. After she ended up in jail years later, Adam took care of their daughters and did what he could to keep them connected to his now ex-wife. Cindy was initially taken to a minimum-security federal women's prison camp in Pekin, Illinois, and he would drive there with their daughters when he could so Cindy and the girls could see each other.

Cindy's mother, Armida Mireles, helped Adam take care of his daughters, and Adam's parents and Rudy Valdez — Cindy's brother and the filmmaker behind The Sentence — did what they could to help out, too. But Cindy and Adam's marriage understandably suffered while she was behind bars, and "My marriage did not last," Cindy told Newsweek. "We were divorced four years into my sentence.”

But Adam and Cindy are still friends, and Valdez told The Detroit Free Press that Adam continued to help with the fight to support Cindy even after they were divorced. They continue to co-parent now, as they did when Cindy was in prison, and the kids split their time between both their parents' homes.

These days, Cindy works as an administrative assistant in Michigan. She's also been working hard on the press junket for The Sentence, as well as completing all the full-time duties that come with being a mom.

And speaking of parental duties, it's not totally clear what Adam does for work after the events of The Sentence, but co-parenting his daughters and everything that entails likely takes up a lot of time. His life is on display throughout The Sentence as he and Valdez worked to bring some sense of normalcy to the lives of his kids, so it shouldn't come as a total surprise that his life isn't such an open book these days.

But whatever Adam's job is now that the years that went into The Sentence are over, not to mention now that his ex-wife is finally free, he's probably very much enjoying being able to share his kids again with a partner who clearly missed them immensely.

The Sentence premieres on Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. ET on HBO.