Since the beginning of the War on Drugs, the number of women in U.S. prisons has grown over 800%. The majority are mothers.
In a Midwestern state caught between harsh drug sentencing and rising incarceration for women, three unforgettable mothers—Tomika, Lydia, and Amanda— return home from prison and rebuild their lives after being separated from their children for years. Their stories overlap at a new reentry program for women, run by Malika, an advocate formerly incarcerated in the same prison.
Filmed over 3 ½ years, APART, by Independent Lens and PBS, traces their steps as they reconstruct lives derailed by drugs and prison.