Voices of the Incarcerated - A Mother's Story from Behind the Walls
Millions of children in the United States have a parent who is incarcerated, and this experience significantly impact a child's well-being, development, and family dynamics.
- In 2016, 47% of people in state prisons and 57% in federal prisons were parents of minor children, according to The Sentencing Project, and the number of incarcerated fathers and mothers has increased substantially between 1991 and 2016.
- Approximately 2.6 million U.S. children currently have a parent in prison, according to the Society for Research in Child Development.
- Children with incarcerated parents are more likely to be younger and living in low-income families of color, often with a young, single mother who has limited education.
On May 31, 2025, the Incarcerated Womxn’s Clemency and Support Project (IWCSP) and Kwaneta Harris Defense Campaign hosted a webinar entitled “Mothering Behind Bars: Voices of Incarcerated Mothers in Reflection of Mother’s Day. IWCSP Founder Uhuru Rowe introduced the “Mothering Behind Bars” event, and the featured speakers were two Black incarcerated mothers, Kwaneta and Cynthia. Due to the wifi being out at the prison where Kwaneta is incarcerated, she was unable to join the event live. However, she has since shared written remarks which she took great time and care to prepare.
As someone who has been sitting in a cell since 2007, I have often wondered if the world still remembers that we, too, are women of blood and bone and heart. We’re not only survivors of a system, but givers of life, stewards of families, and keepers of generations. I want to talk to you tonight about mothering. Not in the way it’s often neatly wrapped and displayed on greeting cards or sitcoms. But mothering as I have lived it—fractured, reimagined, painful, and sacred. - Kwaneta Harris
To read a transcript and listen to the interview, you can visit "The Unbroken Thread: A Mother's Story from Behind the Walls" on the Substack "Write or Die" from Kwaneta Harris, an incarcerated journalist in Texas.
