ITVS: When The Bough Breaks

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Left: John, incarcerated mom Denise's son
Above: Interior of a Missouri prison

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS explores the emotional impact on children whose mothers are imprisoned for non-violent crimes, particularly drug-related prostitution and theft. The children's day-to-day lives give a clear, up-close picture of how the American justice system perpetuates the very problems it seeks to prevent.

Filmed over the course of a year, three Missouri families tell their stories as the children are bounced between social workers, foster parents, grandparents and visits with their moms in prison. This intimate documentary reveals how entire families are punished when mothers are imprisoned.

These youngsters are often left in the custody of extended family members where their needs are misunderstood, where poverty prevails and where they suffer emotional neglect and abuse. With prison populations quadrupling and more than a quarter million children left behind, responsibilities confronting our society become real through their young, articulate voices.

Laura visits her mom, Susie, in prison

Although those who break the law must expect punishment, how can we balance the needs of children against a justice system that often deals lengthy sentences for victimless crimes? When drugs are the cause, why is prison the solution? And who does the harder time, the mothers or their children? The youngsters make clear that regardless of a mother's crime, the urgent desire for her love shapes their lives.

As sons and daughters reveal their longings, which are palpable especially during their visits to their moms in prison, their common desire for love makes them eloquent examples of the more than 250,000 youngsters in the United States who suffer from this separation daily.

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS asks whether separating families is wise public policy, and raises real questions about the nature of a society that prizes punishment more than restorative justice.