The number of women in jails and prisons has increased 800% over the last 40 years. Like myself, those women who’ve been incarcerated have had to leave behind children, families, jobs and dreams. I had to spend some of my daughter’s most formative years separated from her. While I was incarcerated, it felt like everyone I loved was doing the time with me. Even now, after I have returned home, I’m still working hard on my relationship with my daughter, to make up for the time I was gone, and to give her what I didn’t have growing up. 
The stigma of incarceration can make returning home and rebuilding your life so hard. When I watch myself in Apart, I see a lot of hurt in myself and the women I was incarcerated with. When you’re in prison — and even once you’re released — there is so much of your story that people don’t see. When I came home, all I wanted was to find a place for my daughter and I to live. But my rental applications kept getting rejected over and over again because of my record. That's what ultimately motivated me to buy my own house in Pennsylvania, where I now live with my daughter. I am so much more than my record. I’m an entrepreneur and owner of a freight shipping and trucking company called Bailee’s Logistics. I’m a mother, a daughter, a neighbor and a friend, and when you watch Apart, I hope you’ll be able to see all of that too.
You can watch Apart's premiere TONIGHT on PBS or stream it at pbs.org Thank you,
Tomika Daniel
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