Mothers in Prison

The nation's prisons held approximately 65,600 mothers by midyear 2007

Children

52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates—reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of the U.S. resident population under age 18. 

Growth

Growth in the number of parents held in state and federal prisons was outpaced by the growth in the nation’s prison population between 1991 and midyear 2007. 

(Bureau of Justice Statistics)

MTV

Hello Charles!

It was a pleasure to speak with you on the phone.  

Here is a little more about the program:

"True Life" has been airing on MTV since the late '90s and has earned multiple awards in the area of documentary programming. We pride ourselves in telling honest and compelling stories from our young subjects' point of views that will resonate with viewers who may be in the same situation (i.e. searching for their child). We have done a variety of episodes, focusing on everything from education, to family, to addiction, to relationships, to careers, and everything in between. Unlike many other "documentary" series, "True Life" is real and unscripted -- our producers do not manipulate the action; they do not produce anything inorganically. Our mission is to allow our young subjects to tell a story in their own words -- our producer/shooter is simply a fly on the wall.

For this particular episode, we are interested in parents 16-28 whose child(ren) were involuntarily taken away from them, whether by the foster care system, adoption, an ex-wife or ex-husband, etc.

I have attached a few documents to help clarify our search and our approach to the subject matter.

-Jason Bolling