It has been said that when you incarcerate a woman, you imprison a family.

Most female inmates are mothers, and most are locked up for non-violent offenses.

As prison populations rise, so does the problem of lost children - already a quarter million of them.

This hour-long documentary looks from the children's perspectives at three Missouri families. The children's day-to-day lives in the film gives a clear picture of how the US justice system perpetuates the very problems it seeks to prevent.

When the Bough Breaks questions who does the harder time, the inmate mothers, or their children? The youngsters make clear that, regardless of a mothers' crime, the urgent desire for her love shapes their lives.

When the Bough Breaks is distributed by Filmakers Library.