What is it like to give birth — and then be forced to say goodbye to your baby 24 hours later?

To most mothers, it’s a scenario that’s unimaginable. But it’s reality for the dozens of pregnant women behind bars in any given year at Alabama’s notorious Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women.

Tutwiler, a documentary short from FRONTLINE and The Marshall Project, offers a powerful and unforgettable window into the lives of incarcerated pregnant women — and what happens to their newborns.

Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon (Heroin(e), Recovery Boys) and reported and produced by The Marshall Project’s Alysia Santo, Tutwiler began streaming online on May 6, 2020. An updated version aired on FRONTLINE in a two-part special along with Two Strikes — which examines a little-known “two-strikes” law in Florida — on Sept. 5, 2023.