Mothers of Bedford

Streaming video - 2015

Women are the fastest-growing U.S. prison population today. Eighty percent are mothers of school-age children. Jenifer McShane's absorbing documentary gives human dimensions to these rarely reported statistics, taking us inside Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison north of New York City. Shot over four years, Mothers of Bedford follows five women - of diverse backgrounds and incarcerated for different reasons- in dual struggles to be engaged in their children's lives and become their better selves. It shows how long-term sentences affect mother-child relationships and how Bedford's innovative Children's Center helps women maintain and improve bonds with children and adult relatives awaiting thei...r return. Whether it be parenting's normal frustrations to celebrating a special day, from both inside and out of the prison walls, this moving film provides unprecedented access to a little known, rarely shown, community of women. "Confronts crucial issues facing the American criminal justice system. . . . also demonstrates . . . the courageous steps toward redemption taken by the MOTHERS OF BEDFORD." - John H. Biaggi, Human Rights Watch Film Festival Awards Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival, Best Documentary Social Justice Film Festival, Director's Choice Award more