What’s It Like to Have a Parent in Prison? The Ms. Q&A With Montrell Carmouche on How Operation Restoration Is Supporting Girls

MS. MAGAZINE

According to the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), the state of Louisiana “locks up a higher percentage of its people than any independent democratic country on earth.”

This staggering trend has a disproportionate impact on women. Regardless of whether they are held in local, state or federal facilities, women’s incarceration not only impacts themselves, but touches their family, friends and communities. Moreover, PPI estimates that 80 percent of women in jails and prisons are mothers or are the primary caretakers of young children, making the upheaval caused by incarceration a serious social welfare concern.