Opinion | For Just One Day, a Mother and Child Reunite in Prison

Prison waiting rooms are not warm places. For young children especially, visiting an incarcerated parent is often as traumatic as it is therapeutic. It’s an experience filled with long waits, intimidating security measures and tight restrictions on the visit’s duration.

Having had a family member incarcerated for over a decade, I’ve seen the toll that prolonged separation has on women and their children. I’ve made many long drives to prisons and witnessed the limitations that traditional visitation offers. I know that even as visiting means maintaining an emotional bond, it can make you feel isolated and emotionally confused.

That’s what makes the program featured in our film above so rare. Here, a reunification house in Goochland County allows women and their children to experience a full day together in a warmer environment than traditional visitation. Beginning in late 2022, the house has allowed a rotating cohort of women to spend time with their children over multiple visitations.

In this somewhat surreal setting, our short film “Weekend Visits” aims to witness the emotional spectrum of excitement, tension, confusion and love between two people who care about each other deeply but who are learning what it means to be parent and child again.