Oklahoma’s prisons packed with women

Oklahoma’s crime rate ranks 17th nationally, about on par with the country’s average. But the state has the dubious distinction of being No. 1 for female incarceration per capita in the United States.

It’s not that Oklahoma’s women are hardened criminals. Rather, nearly 70 percent are non-violent offenders. They’ve found themselves behind bars at Oklahoma’s Correctional Facilities mostly because of drug abuse, drug dealing and prostitution (to support their habits).

A new documentary, Women Behind Bars, takes viewers inside these prisons to meet the women who are struggling with untreated addictions and other ignored issues. And there really are so many of them. The female incarceration rate in Oklahoma stands at 134 per 100,000, which is more than twice the national average of 60 per 100,000. Many of the women we meet are the heads of single parent led households, struggling to keep their houses in order despite being behind bars.

Join in LIVE as Family Life Behind Bars Radio interviews the documentary’s director, Amina Benalioulhaj,