Segments of americas prison population. Since 1995, the total number of male prisoners in america has grown 29 . The number of female prisoners, nearly 50 . So what does it mean to society and to our Justice System . We first visited valley state womens prison in california back in 2000, one of the largest allfemale prisons in the world. We returned five years later to see if reforms made any difference to a system troubled by overcrowding and the inmates caught in a seemingly hopeless circle of abuse, drug addiction and violence. Everybody tries to make a family here. This is their family while theyre here. But then there is another aspect of the population that can be very violent, very cutthroat. Why you over here . And theyre making a game out of it. And the more violent it is, the more fun it is for them. Get your camera off of me. Theyre not people. I dont feel im a good person because of the things ive done. And im scared. Im scared. I am very scared. 250 miles north of los ange
even know where their kids are. they don t have family or the family kind of shut them off. you know, since they re in here. i m fortunate enough that i ve got someone who loves me and that will come 200 miles, however many miles, to come see me. we ll see you next week. anza heathcock was released from valley state prison in november 2000. her sons are teenagers living at home with her. anza is still in a relationship with her fiance. although advocacy groups sponsor bus trips to bring families to see their mothers, such trips are rare. barely 1% of inmates have a visitor on any given day, meaning anza was among a precious, lucky few. it makes life in here livable. you know, gives me something to look forward to.
yet inmate anza heathcock and her family have the room to themselves. without them being here, i don t think i could make it through this. you know? looking forward to their visits, looking forward to their letters. it brightens my day, it really does. anza s fiance and three boys are visiting her. missed her a lot. just happy that we can go see her today. supposed to get married when she gets out. all the time she s been gone, it s like we never get to talk to her or anything else. all s we do is get to write her. hopefully when she gets out she can probably come to our football games. you know i will. be there at every one, videotaping it. you know i will. just can t wait for me to get out of here and start living our lives like we should. i know that s my goal. i m very blessed to have somebody take care of my kids. i know where my kids are. a lot of women in here don t
i m fortunate enough that i ve got someone who loves me and who will come 200 miles, however many miles, come see me. we ll see you next week. you better be here every week. anza heathcock was released from valley state prison in november, 2000. her sons are teenagers living at home with her. anza is still in a relationship with her fiance. although advocacy groups sponsor bus trips to bring families to see their mothers, such trips are rare. barely 1% of inmates have a visitor on any given day, meaning anza was among a precious, lucky few. it makes life in here livable. you know, gives me something to look forward to. when we return the power to heal while some look to god for
my home is with my children. an unfortunate fact of life at valley state is 85% of these women are mothers. they display their photos on cell walls or lockers. this is hunter and sierra. these are my girls. i love them so much. one of the more sobering differences between men and women s prisons is that many of the inmates who end up here never see their loved ones again. in the women s case they re frequently abandoned. there are not men in their lives that cared about them enough to stay with them during this difficult time. they come here and their families don t take the time to bother and come and see them. there are not as many men out there that want to communicate with and write to and send love stories and love letters to women that are locked up. it s saturday. usually a prison s busiest time for visits. yet inmate anza heathcock and her family have the room to themselves.