>> NARRATOR: Now, from FRONTLINE and The Marshall Project two two stories from inside the prison system.

First, a little known two strikes law... >> What am I arrested for now?

>> If you had been incarcerated three years or less prior and they decide to enact the statue, you'’re automatically sentenced to the statutory maximum.

They gave me life in prison.

>> NARRATOR: In association with Firelight Media... >> Two strikes and you'’re out, if you will.

>> The system have to change.

This law have to change.

>>NARRATOR: "“Two Strikes.

"” And later, the experience of pregnant women in prison.

>> We have between 45 to 50 pregnant women in and out of Tutwiler in a year'’s time.

>> A common saying for being incarcerated is I came in here by myself, I'’m going to leave by myself.

We all had little riders with us.

>> NARRATOR: And what happens to their newborns... >> When you have your baby and spend time with him or her and it'’s over that'’s like the hardest thing that ever done happen in the world.

>> We'’re almost to the end of this.

So, I'’ll see you soon.

>>NARRATOR: These two stories - on this special edition of FRONTLINE.

♪ ♪ >> We got a witness and the lady said that you were trying to take her car.

>> Mark, here we are.

You're just gonna go into the facilities, and just do what they say, and hopefully you can get out of here soon enough, all right?

>> No, you won't.

>> My sentence is life without the possibility of parole.

So I'm in here till I die.

It's a hard place to navigate.

There's a lot of different people from all walks of life.

So you've got to be careful.

It still doesn't seem real.

I'm 48 now.

The average male lives to about 78 years old, which means I'll do another 30 years in here before I pass away, on average.

I'm reasonably healthy so I might make it till my 80s, so it's a... it's a long time.

(traffic rushing by) (children chattering in background) >> I have a bunch of stuff here.

Boxes and things that we had to, like, lift.

Mark isn't there so he cannot lift things.

So I have to lift it.

So, that's one of the things that kind of, you know, you don't have somebody here to help you, it's just you.

This is our kitchen.

This one was more my mother-in-law.

She has those in the house and I always like it, so I just kind of put the little vase and put it in there.

Got this, one of the little things... ...that I treasure.

It's a bar of V05 soap.

But it's handmade.

So they made that, put my name out, and inside "Always Mark, I love you."

(sighs) That make it tougher, every time that I see it.

I am a pharmacy technician at Orlando, at the VA. Well, Mark and I have been together for a really long time.

We had both got out of divorces.

I, I always tell him that he was the, the only person that I, that I know that goes to the kitchen and do the dishes with me.

He's... he's a good man.

We bought the house this year.

Some people say "Oh, you continue being dumb," like, "you are married to somebody and pay this and pay that."

But for me it's not, it's...

I say, "I'm not taking anything with me the day I die, but I will leave him something."

So, what is mine is his.

>> I grew up, I was a very patriotic young guy.

(marching drums) I wanted to be an FBI agent like my father.

Have three kids, have a nice home, maybe coach football.

I had an older brother who was a West Point cadet.

I had a grandfather who served in World War II.

So, the military was a big part of our family.

And I really believed in America, its principles, its values, freedom.

♪ ♪ I enlisted in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

And then from there, I went into West Point.

It was hard.

It's a, it's a very competitive place.

A lot of patriotic people, smart people.

I played football there also.

I was there in the early '90s.

But, uh, then there were some things, some... there were some violent things that went on and it was, it was considered normal.

Nah, I don't want to get into that, I really don't.

I'm sorry.

(sighs) It was bad, it was really bad.

It's part of my life.

(clears throat) (drums beating) I could tell things weren't right in my, in my mind.

(whirring, traffic sounds, buzzing) The big thing is the noise.

(whirring, traffic sounds, buzzing) Your heart starts beating really fast.

It's like being electrified, and you can't figure out what's causing the electrification.

My... every pore on my body would open up sometimes, and I, I couldn't explain why.

I remember my mom, she would call it my dark place.

She would say, "Mark, it's not real."

It would help bring me back into reality.

But whatever, whatever was going on...

I constantly wanted to take that edge off.

>> How about, you have family, you got brothers and sisters?

>> They don't want you around?

I would have bad, really bad nightmares and I would, I would drink during the night to go back to sleep.

It wasn't a lot.

And as time progressed... (traffic passing, insects, birds chirping) ...I'm trying to get drunk, I'm trying to stay drunk.

All day, all night.

I'd go out a lot, on my own, just to get away from people.

If everybody was quiet around me, it would help.

>> He disappeared.

I mean, sometimes he'd disappear for days, and you don't know.

It's just, like, you don't know what was going on.

♪ ♪ But then, he'd call, "I'm fine, blah, blah, blah."

And so, I'm...

I was calm.

But then, he'd continue.

>> Then what is your M.O., man?

I mean, I took these items.

I'd go to county jail.

And I'd figure my quickest avenue back to alcohol would be probation.

And then of course, I would violate the probation so it just became an... a collage of incidents.

I really didn't get help until probably 2010.

I went to the, uh, Orlando PTSD clinic.

♪ ♪ Unfortunately, the Orlando PTSD clinic said, "Look, you need a higher level of care."

>> So then he had to go to Bay Pine.

And Bay Pine said, "You have to be sober for one or two months."

>> So, I was kind of bouncing between the two.

And I'm, you know, and I'm...

I was a mess.

You know, I was a mess at that time.

A lot of drinking.

>> So, how can you, gonna tell somebody "do not drink" if you are an alcoholic?

I think that the VA failed Mark.

>> Eventually, that's when the, the incident that occurred that put me here.

I just go by what Ms. Hopkins said happened that day.

I mean, I was blacked-out drunk.

Apparently, I was at a Publix, talking on my cell phone, and I walked up to a vehicle.

Leaned in the vehicle, told the person to give me the keys and get out of the vehicle.

The victim said they screamed, and I walked away talking on my cell phone.

Tell you one thing, I didn't strong-arm rob this chick, dude.

See, the, the problem was, I had gone to prison for grand theft.

Out of a Home Depot, it was a drill.

Because I had been released from prison within three years, the state attorney offered me a 15-year plea deal, but he said if you don't take this plea deal, we're gonna enact what's called the PRR statute-- Prison Releasee Reoffender.

>> We could call this bill the "We Really Mean it This Time" bill.

>> People that have committed treason, murder, manslaughter, sexual battery, carjacking, robbery, arson, kidnapping... >> So, what we're trying to do is put these people back in prison before they commit another crime on a probation violation.

>> Sort of a two strikes and you're out, if you will.

>> If you had been incarcerated three years or less prior, and they decide to enact the statute, and you go to trial, you're automatically sentenced to the statutory maximum.

I was found guilty at trial.

They gave me life in prison.

And anything I say about the severity of my sentence, I don't mean to minimize the impact I had on her that day.

She has every right to you know, have a normal day.

And, uh, so I'm sorry.

From the bottom of my heart.

♪ ♪ >> This is another Christmas.

"You are in my heart.

Be safe, my love.

Come back home soon."

This one was from his mom.

When you have some, somebody in prison, you just not putting one person in there, you're putting the whole family.

And, um, uh... we lost his mom already.

It's, uh... >> Right before, it was hard.

Oh, man, I broke down on the phone.

>> And he calls, like, every 15, 20 minutes, just for me to put the phone.

You know, I'm in Columbia CI prison, I got about ten people standing around me, and I, I had to say goodbye to my mom.

Seeing... the mother go through the whole thing, him not able to go... to hug her, I mean.

That's hard.

She's just a good person.

I couldn't go to her funeral or anything like that at all.

Now, the father is not doing well either.

So...

It's very, very, um...

Very tough, very, very, extremely tough.

And this is... you know, these are the last years I've got with them.

At first, my dad was like, "Well, you're, you should go to jail," you know, and that sort of thing.

But as time went on, he was like, "This is enough, Mark," you know?

"I've seen so much change in you."

I'm a law clerk at the prison law library.

You got a lot of guys in here with less than a ninth grade education.

They can't even write an essay, you know, let alone put a brief together for the district court of appeal, and they, they need help.

I'm stuck in here, I'm trying to make a difference from in here but it's hard.

If there's any way I can get back to my family, I need to get there.

I mean, it's hard for her because she's doing everything by herself.

(phone chimes) >> (over phone): An inmate at a Florida Department of Corrections Institution.

Your current balance is $55.49.

This call is from a corrections facility and is subject to monitoring and recording.

Thank you for using Global Tel Link.

>> Hey, babe.

>>- Hey, honey.

>> Um, well, there's nothing going on here.

I'll be trying to get a hold of my dad tonight, see how he's doing.

>> Okay.

>> A lot of guys are interested in what I... >> It's always good to hear his voice.

But it's tough, it's tough.

The phone calls used to be half an hour for $1.20.

Now it's $4.30.

They take whoever they can and make money out of the family.

- All right, I love you.

- I love you, babe, bye.

>> Have a good night, bye-bye.

(hangs up) >> For me, this is just an abuse of power.

Not only Mark, 'cause... it's all the people that going through same process and the same pain.

>> My brother, Dwyane, has served 21 years on a 60-year prison sentence for the theft of a gold chain.

>> Stuckey shoplifted DVDs from a Seminole County Sam's Club.

He was sentenced to 30 years.

♪ ♪ >> I love it, and it works.

Crime is at a historic lows in Florida.

So that tells us that it works.

>> There are currently 8,000 people in Florida prisons sentenced to mandatory maximum sentences under the Prison Releasee Reoffender statute.

>> I go back again to the whole thing.

For scaring an old lady.

It's, it's just, it just blow my mind.

The system have to change.

This law have to change.

Florida have to change.

>> When you're in this, this kind of a place, you miss simple things.

(indistinct chatter) You know, just being able to go to Chick-fil-A and get a sandwich.

I miss Christmas, I miss, I miss the holidays.

I just miss my family, you know?

I wish I could be there.

If there's heavy boxes to carry, I wish I could be there to do it for her.

But, um, I'm stuck in here.

>> Hey.

Where's Mom, I can't see her?

♪ ♪ >> Thank you, Mark.

>> Yes.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Coming up next, a special broadcast of FRONTLINE'’s award-winning documentary short.

>> So, this is the birthing care group we'’re the Alabama Prison Birth Project.

>> An intimate look at the experience of women in an Alabama prison.

>> You were locked up your whole pregnancy and it was just you and that baby and then to walk away from the person that'’s been there with you, it makes the strongest person break.

>> NARRATOR: "Tutwiler" - starts right now.

(lock buzzes, door creaks) (indistinct conversations) (lock buzzes) (gate clanks) WOMAN: Come on.

(door shuts) SERGEANT ABBOT: You got your seatbelt on?

Yes, ma'am.

ABBOT: Okay.

ABBOT: How far along are you now?

MISTY COOK: Nine months.

Are you having a boy or a girl?

COOK: A boy.

First one, second one?

COOK: It's my second boy.

My little boy's been getting in trouble at school.

ABBOT: Yeah, how old is he?

He's ten.

ABBOT: Mm-hmm.

Usually he's good.

ABBOT: He's going through some stuff.

But don't let that be, like... Don't pity him to the point that you just spoil him.

COOK: I know I can't do that.

My husband passed away four years ago.

ABBOT: Mm-hmm.

And I let them get away with a bunch.

Yeah.

COOK: That's where I messed up at.

ABBOT: Have they been able to come to visit at all?

COOK: No, I wouldn't want to put them through that.

ABBOT: Yeah.

I just feel bad when kids come, because, you know, they have to be searched too, and... COOK: When I was a little kid, I remember we went to prison to see my dad, and it was crazy, because I had Timberland boots that had little metal things on them.

The metal thing kept going off.

ABBOT: Oh, mm-hmm.

And I had to take my shoes off.

COOK: Yeah.

Mine's Sarah.

ABBOT: Yeah, we're the only prison in the Southeast that has that program.

COOK: I know.

I mean, you're going to have someone there with you, but we're complete strangers, you know what I mean?

And it's different-- they know you on a different level.

And they can interact with you differently than we can.

♪ ♪ (door unlocking and opening) This is a non-smoking dorm.

We have pregnant females in here-- I mean, come on.

So do not smoke in this dorm, ladies.

GROUP: Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

I'm going to start at the end and work my way down.

Trim just a little.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, good morning.

WENDY WILLIAMS: Tutwiler is the only women's prison in the state of Alabama.

But on average we have between 45 to 50 pregnant women in and out of Tutwiler in a year's time.

I know at one time we had three generations of women at Tutwiler that were from the same family.

And, of course, we have that concern every time a woman comes to us pregnant-- is this going to be another cycle?

♪ ♪ (lock buzzes) GUARD: Shake, shake.

(lock buzzes) CAPTAIN SONJA ROSE: Captain Rose to... officer.

Get Misty Cook up and send her to the shift office.

SARAH DOYLE: What is your current age?

COOK: 36.

DOYLE: How long have you been in this facility?

Six months.

And what is the length of your current sentence?

COOK: 36 months.

DOYLE: Not including your current incarceration, have you been in jail or prison before?

COOK: Mm-mmm.

DOYLE: What is your highest level of education?

11th grade.

DOYLE: In the month before your arrest, were you employed?

No.

Were you raised by someone other than your biological mother or father?

- Yes.

Yes, and who was that?

Grandparents.

- Grandparents.

As an adult, have you ever been a victim of domestic violence?

- Yes.

Do you have children?

COOK: Yeah, two.

DOYLE: Yeah, two.

COOK: Plus the baby.

DOYLE: Yeah.

And you're just wanting to do an epidural and then whatever the doctor recommends, just go with the flow, laying in bed, birthing on your back.

I want a big cup of Pepsi.

DOYLE: A big cup of Pepsi, okay.

Sometimes being a doula just means giving you your space, so you're always welcome to kick me out.

COOK: No, you're staying there with me.

Okay, sounds good.

I'm going to be around through this.

You're not doing this alone.

- I know.

DOYLE: Anything else I can help with today?

No.

DOYLE: All right.

Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee?

So this is the birthing care group.

We're the Alabama Prison Birth Project.

And we come weekly, and we do childbirth education.

You'll get a healthy meal, and then if you want to be matched with a doula, you can be matched with a doula for your birth.

ASHLEY LOVELL: If it's all right, we'll just go ahead and start the lesson.

To safely hold your baby, the baby's head is close enough for you to kiss, right?

It's not just important for the baby, it's important for us, because it's building that strong bond.

And you're more primed to bond to your baby at the moment than any other time.

Again, if you're separated from your baby for some reason, you can do this as soon as your baby comes back to you.

Even if your baby's swaddled up in a little burrito, and asleep, it's okay to undo the swaddle and put your baby skin to skin.

They will go right back to sleep here.

ERIN BROWN: Well, let's go on and... yes?

I just was... how many of us have had babies before?

How many of you?

Raise your hands.

WOMAN: I've had lots of babies.

THERESA BARRON: What I think would be good is talk about how we're going to raise these babies.

A lot of us go back and we're like, "Breathing techniques?"

I think the focus should be, like, your baby, and how you're going to raise your baby and keep them and be a good mother and not have to go through what you went through.

(indistinct conversation) This is Antonio Jabar, and he's in a shower.

This me and him... me and him kissing, but he's still paying attention to the lady that took the picture of us.

But that's my sugar boo.

KIM PATTON: Look like she was praying right here.

These are the last pictures I got, but I look at them over and over.

Then I take them out and look at them again and cry and hide them again.

This is me and Tolin.

This is the day that I was with him in the NICU.

I was just praying with him here, you know, praying that he would get better.

He had swallowed some of my amniotic fluid whenever he came out, so he got an infection.

So he's got to take a full seven-day round of antibiotics.

but this is that day.

It was devastating, especially finding out that he was sick the night before, and the very next day knowing that I had to come back to prison.

It just really broke my heart, knowing that I was leaving him there, you know?

Um... it's very hard.

Well, this is Romeo.

You got it.

He's a week and one day today, and, um, I guess he's still with DHR.

So I don't know where he at right now.

So, I don't know.

I don't want to talk about it.

MALONE: We're all rooting for him either way.

PATTON: Yeah, we talk about him already.

Don't cry.

It's all right.

You going to get some answers here in a little while.

♪ ♪ NEWS ANCHOR: The Department of Justice is telling Alabama steps must be taken to curb sexual abuse at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women.

The report called Tutwiler "a toxic, sexualized environment."

The facility in Wetumpka houses about a thousand inmates.

♪ ♪ WILLIAMS: We had a lot of concerns at that time about Tutwiler.

A lot of what we were hearing from the inmates was the fact that they weren't feeling safe.

So what we had to do, and we're still working on this, is change the culture.

♪ ♪ (indistinct conversation) WILLIAMS: I'm Wendy Williams, if you haven't met me already, and I'm the Deputy Commissioner for Women's Services, and just super excited that we have committed stakeholders that want to have a voice in our process.

And I know Warden Wright and Warden McClane and I share a similar vision.

When we build a new women's prison, there will be an area where the mothers and babies can actually stay together from six months to a year post delivery.

We have made a lot of great progress, but we still have a long way to go.

We're just now entering our fourth year of implementation with the DOJ settlement involving Tutwiler.

We were compliant with 40 of 44 provisions, and the court report that will be filed by the 28th of this month will reflect that we are now compliant with 41.

Those three are going to take a little bit more time.

One of them will be accomplished with the help of University of Alabama and Auburn, hopefully.

And then, of course, the other two are staffing, and that is a big challenge for us right now.

We'll look at some data behind that in just a moment.

What about the doula program?

ASHLEY LOVELL: There's been a lot of interest in the lactation room.

I have two emails now from other facilities wanting very specific details on how we implemented the program here, which is exactly what we'd hoped to see-- Tutwiler doing something that caught on, and is giving this opportunity... WILLIAMS: Who would have ever thought, right?

...to all of these babies in the country-- yes.

WILLIAMS: Can you say that one more time?

(laughter) LOVELL: I will, because we hear that.

The hospital breastfeeding initiation rate where these women give birth is about 20 percent.

And since we opened the lactation room in June, we have about a 50 percent initiation rate.

So we've surpassed the hospital initiation rate, which is exciting.

♪ ♪ CHRISTY REACH: I'm currently on the breast feeding program.

Every day I'm over there multiple times a day pumping.

It's very quiet over there, and this place is never quiet.

And I read my Bible, and I pray, and just kind of create my own little bubble, and bless the milk so when it does get to her, you know... ♪ ♪ It keeps you connected with your child, keeps you focused on where you need to be to change ourselves so we can get home to our children.

♪ ♪ It is much harder to pump than it is to breast feed, so I usually only produce about two ounces, two to three ounces at a time.

A lot of us have been abused our entire lives, and we enter into relationships of abuse, and then DHR wants to step in and say we can't have our children because they're going to enter into relationships of abuse.

Well, help us, you know?

Don't just throw us off in prison or take our children.

Actually help us.

REACH: All this wasted time.

KIM PATTON: The one bad decision that I made... it affected everything.

JENNIFER BALDWIN: "Mama, when you coming home?"

My child tell me that, "Mama, you come home and stop doing the things that you were doing."

To hear my child tell me that, you gotta get your life together.

HARRIET HOLLOWAY: I just look at...

I'm so mad at myself and angry.

(cries) To... to think about how angry that I am at me.

It makes me angry.

I'm just angry at myself for not making the right decisions.

KRISTA RYALS: We're all angry because we've put ourselves here, you know what I'm saying?

It's not the kids' fault that we took ourself away from them.

It's helped me talk, to learn that I have to forgive myself for the mistakes that I've made.

REACH: You know, a common saying for being incarcerated is, "I came in here by myself, I'm going to leave by myself."

We all had little riders with us.

(all agree) And I've actually named my daughter Ariana Angel Rider.

(indistinct conversations) All right, so you guys ready?

So we're celebrating baby Elijah, right?

Yay!

(applause) He'll be here Thursday.

JANEE ROBINSON: And will be here Thursday, by the way, so it's a good thing that we are celebrating early, yes.

Y'all ready?

INMATE: Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her blank and blank.

INMATE: Curds and whey.

INMATE: Yeah, that's what I thought it was, curds and whey.

INMATE: Ice cream and cake.

INMATE: Peter Peter pumpkin eater had a wife but couldn't... GROUP: Keep her!

(laughter) INMATE: He couldn't what?

GROUP: Keep her!

INMATE: Show them your belly!

(indistinct conversations) INMATE: You ready?

No but yes.

INMATE: You got it.

Turn around, let us see.

INMATE: All right.

(cheers and applause) I know you so good.

- I know.

(woman coughs) You got it!

- She got it too!

(applause) We've been in here right at an hour, believe it or not.

How many people actually thought about using drugs or alcohol while we were doing?

Is it possible for you to have activities like this and laugh and to celebrate without using?

ALL: Yes.

ROBINSON: It is.

And that's what recovery is about, seriously.

I'm happy for her.

ROBINSON: I am, too.

I am, too.

I am, too.

CAPTAIN SONJA ROSE: I hope that you tap into what you get here.

You're at the lowest.

you're at the bottom.

And so if you can make it at that level, you can always make it.

That's the thing.

I think you misunderstand who you are, with the power and the strength that you actually have, and you don't need someone else to confirm who you are.

You have to confirm yourself, okay?

Let's move around, because I've got a little gap here.

There you go, there you go.

Everybody say cheese.

INMATE: Make it so pretty.

(laughter) INMATE: You can Photoshop it.

ROSE: All right-- baby!

ALL: Baby!

My baby's almost a month old now.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Do you have a boy or girl?

- A little boy.

- A boy?

- Yeah.

- What's his name?

- Tyler Denver.

- That's a pretty name.

- Yeah.

BRITTANY: When I was eight, it was the first time I smoked marijuana.

By the time I was a 13 or 14 I was a full-fledged addict, used every day.

The first time I got locked up, I was 14.

I've been having, I guess, a little bit of depression and anxiety and just everything knowing, okay, I just had a baby in prison, and now I'm fixing to get back out to him, and what do I do from here?

You know, how do I... how do I go forward?

How do I stop making those... some of those same mistakes?

♪ ♪ It's really hard in here.

There's drugs everywhere.

We can't even go to the bathroom, you know?

You know, if you want to try and change your life, and you're an addict, how do you say no when it's all in your face, you know?

They just threw us behind bars, you know, behind the fence, basically just to live with a whole bunch of addicts.

♪ ♪ WOMAN: There's some peach crisp.

At this hospital, I've seen them give IV narcotics right after the baby was born, which is something I've never seen at another hospital.

And I've seen them offer Percocet even to a mom post-vaginal birth.

So if you want to stay away from narcotics for your recovering, you have to say that to them.

And when we talk about fear, tension, pain, when you relax your body, it doesn't hurt as bad when it's contracting.

It's a poor pillow, I know.

CHAUNTEL NORRIS: As we're starting to have contractions, the first thing your doula's going to walk you through is breathing through it-- like, that's really important.

Because when you're in pain, we're all "Ow!"

You know, you tense up, and you stop breathing-- that's the first thing you do, right?

Take a deep breath in, relax your shoulders, and breathe it out.

In through your nose and out through the mouth.

Very good-- in through your nose, out through your mouth.

NORRIA: So what are some things, when you get home... what are some things that you plan to do differently so you don't have to be back?

Not to be back here?

Mm-hmm.

My goal, when I go home, I don't want to come outside for a year.

But... okay, so... JENNIFER: But taking my baby to the doctor, that's totally different.

- Right.

So you're going to have to come out at some point.

You're going to have to take your kid somewhere.

You're going to have to go to the store.

You're going to have to, you know, become a part of society again.

And so you need to have something in place you know, to keep you out of trouble.

I want us to come up with a good plan.

"When I think I want to do this, this is what I'll do instead."

And then, you know, we'll set bigger goals, you know?

Yeah, you're right.

NORRIS: Set bigger goals.

Like, when we talk about goals, our goal is to be available to our kids, you know what I mean?

To be able to be a good mom to them, you know?

And to be present with them, you know?

(indistinct conversations) AMY NICOLE WILLIAMS: So I picked out this book.

It's called "I Love You Animally" and it's just going to tell you how much that I love y'all, okay?

It says, "I love you hugely, like a whale.

"I love you shyly like a quail."

(indistinct conversations) PATRICIA BETH MALONE: "I'll float around "inside my space shuttle.

"I'll eat all my food and special gadgets.

"Could I be any of those things when I grow up?

"But I don't need to decide just yet.

I can just dream of having big adventures."

Leah, I love you.

We're almost to the end of this.

So I'll see you soon.

INMATE: "Anne thought Gilbert was cheeky."

JENNIFER BALDWIN: Rodriguez, Mama wanted to talk to you today to let you know I'm so sorry that I had to go.

I hope you come see me September the 8th, baby.

Mama loves you so much, and be good to your grandma.

Stop being bad, baby, okay?

And be good in school and make good grades, Rodriguez.

REACH: I want them to know that not a day goes by that I don't think of you; I think of you every day.

I just pray to God that one day it can all be made right.

TORI: We're scared.

We're scared because we don't know what's going on outside of these walls.

KIM PATTON: I wonder how much she weighs, what she's doing.

ASHLEY: What is she doing?

Does she sleep good?

PATTON: Does she sleep good?

ASHLEY: Is she happy?

PATTON: Do she cry a lot?

ASHLEY: Does... is she calling somebody else "Mom"?

PATTON: What does she like to eat?

I think about all them... them questions.

♪ ♪ This is her mom right here.

I can relate to the kids a lot because I was born drug-addicted to crack cocaine.

My mom did drugs, like, most of her life.

And so society says that they're throwaways, and that there's no hope for them, or they're going to end up in the system, or they're going to end up on drugs just like their parents.

You know, show them the love that I didn't get as a baby-- being held, you know, being talked to.

I didn't have that, you know?

So for me to be able to do that for these children has been like a healing for me.

When I look at her I think of me, like, when I was a baby.

And I look at me and I see her future.

Like there's hope for her.

Right, Amiya?

There's hope.

(laughs) There's hope.

(traffic rumbles, birds chirping) (door slams, lock buzzes) (indistinct conversations) ABBOTT: Thank you.

(indistinct chatter) Excuse me.

INMATE: You going to have your baby?

INMATE: You going to have your baby?

(indistinct conversations) INMATE: Which way are we going, Miss Mims?

You having a girl?

Boy.

INMATE: Boy.

(bus engine rumbles) ♪ ♪ REACH: You don't want to give birth, because you want to be able to at least feel them and have them with you.

PATTON: You feel so empty.

Your heart just stop.

♪ ♪ RYALS: It still hurts deep down inside, because you had that bond.

24 hours to bond with a baby is not really much.

McCANN: When you were locked up your whole pregnancy and it was just you and that baby, and then to walk away from the person that's been there with you, it makes the strongest person break.

ABBOT: I know, I'm sorry.

♪ ♪ (gate creaking) LOUDSPEAKER: Last call for (indecipherable)... (doors slam shut) ABBOT: We have Sergeant Abbot, Lieutenant Nelson out with J3 Misty Cooke en route to Baptist South Hospital.

What are you naming him?

Elijah.

ABBOT: That's right.

The little labor suite or whatever is way nicer than the room they're going to put you in for postpartum.

I'm just letting you know.

Don't get attached.

They're only going to leave you in there for like an hour after the baby's born.

- An hour?

And you go back to them little rooms again?

ABBOT: Yes, Lord.

♪ ♪ - Thank you.

- Mm-hmm.

(indistinct conversation) ♪ ♪ PATTON: I always tell them, I say, "Y'all go and prepare yourself, "because, you know, "you're talking about you're ready to go in labor, "well, when you have your baby and spend time with him or her "and it's over, that's, like, the hardest thing that ever done happened in the world."

♪ ♪ Line?

601.

(keys jingling) (gate creaks) (gate creaks) (tires on gravel) (door closing) (door opening) (indistinct conversation) (door closing) (van starts) (gate creaks) (keys jingling) (indistinct conversations) GUARD: I have 315115.

(Velcro tearing) ♪ ♪ Bye, handsome.

Thank y'all for taking such good care of my little buddy.

All right.

You are so alert.

Look at you.

♪ ♪ Okay, all right, almost got it.

Elijah... Elijah.

Everybody's waiting to see you.

(baby cries) Oh, okay, let's see.

There we go.

There we go.

♪ ♪ ANGELA SPACKMAN: He is beautiful.

Baby!

Hello, you.

Look at those cheeks.

Well, welcome home.

Welcome home.

(baby cries) Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my goodness.

Welcome.

(indistinct conversations) (rustling) GUARD: Welcome back.

- I'm going to change in here.

- Okay.

- Thank you.

(keys jingling) (indistinct conversations) ♪ ♪ >> Go to pbs.org/frontline for more reporting from our partners at The Marshall Project.

And learn more from the filmmakers about the making of "“Two Strikes..."” >> What am I arrested for now?

>> And "“Tutwiler.

"” >> There are many scenes within the film that were a challenge.

I mean first of all filming inside of a prison was a challenge.

>> Connect with FRONTLINE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and stream anytime on the PBS App, YouTube or pbs.org/frontline.

>> The Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org.

>> For more on this and other Frontline programs visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Frontline's "Two Strikes" and "Tutwiler" are available on Amazon Prime Video.