"I stabbed someone, to death."
Karen Mary Travers was not the sort of person you would expect to see as an inmate at Wentworth Detention Center. Karen was a school teacher and she was also married. We do learn quickly though that her marriage was not a happy one it was often violent and confrontational.
Karen was pregnant and her husband wanted her to have a termination as he never wanted children. Karen being of the Roman Catholic faith was not about to agree and also divorce was against her beliefs. Despite the fact that he has been physically and mentally abusing her.
Karen agrees to have the termination and upon returning home she finds her husband in bed with another woman. This places Karen into a trance like state which scares off her husbands mistress. Karen then stabs her husband to death in the shower. Afterwards Karen accepts her fate again due to her religion, and turns herself in.
Time in Prison[]
Karen hugs Franky after getting her away from the rooftop ledge
Karen initially had a hard time adjusting to life in Wentworth, having to repel Franky Doyle's sexual advances and moving out of her dorm into another one, where an inmate Sally Lee committed suicide.
Karen quickly gets involved in a riot by just being in the wrong place. Karen eventually is able to adjust to life in prison and accepts the inmates for what they are. Karen's time is made easier by having someone at Wentworth she knew on the outside her ex-fiancé - Dr Greg Miller. Greg urges Karen to better herself and to fight for an appeal given the evidence of abuse from her husband.
Karen teaches classes and eventually teaches Franky Doyle how to read after the death of her brother Gary Doyle in a farming accident. Karen talks Franky down off of the roof.
Karen is eventually able to attend university on day release. While at University one of Karen`s lecturers - Dr Peter Clements asks to study the inmates at Wentworth.
Although Karen was frightened by Franky Doyle's advances, she took it upon herself to help Franky learn to read.
Karen faces a retrial and her case is thrown out and she is released on parole, she takes up residence for the time at the Sally Lee Halfway House where she has Doreen Burns stay with her when she is released.
After Wentworth[]
After Karen's release, she has some difficulty finding a place to live. Firstly staying with a friend of her mother's and then with Melinda Cross (a friend from uni) who was a prisoner when she was blackmailing her lover and then Angela Jeffries. Jeffries is a lesbian civil rights lawyer, who doesn't want Karen living with her as she has an image to upkeep.
Angela helps Karen set up and run the Sally Lee Halfway House, named after the inmate who hung herself in Episode 001.
Karen eventually resumes her relationship with Greg Miller, however she is shot by David O'Connell by mistake, as the gunshot was meant for Greg. Although Karen had extensive injuries, when we last see her in Episode 080, she is on the road to recovery.
Karen moved to Queensland where she and Greg were married and living a new life.