Sixty-six percent of women in prison have minor children. Eighty percent of women in prison have addictions. If you understand, as the medical establishment does, that addiction is a disease, rather than a moral failing, it will be as hard for you as it is for me to wrap your head around punishing mothers--and their children--by putting them in prison and their kids in foster care in response to that disease.
Small programs throughout the country are trying alternatives to prison. One such program in California helps women get clean and sober while living in group homes with their children. Filmmaker, Sheila Ganz, spent three years with the women in the program documenting their stories and their struggles. You can see a trailer of Moms Living Clean below.
If you happen to be in San Francisco Bay area, you can also go to a screening of the work in progress on Thursday, May 14th, from 6 to 9 pm at the 
Oakland Museum of California, James Moore Theatre.
image: wikimedia.org
