ORDER MY STEPS Feature Script

At the heart of 'Order My Steps' is the truth that incarceration shreds family bonds. The meteoric rise of women in prisons (over 700 percent since 1980 according to The Sentencing Project, 60 percent of whom are mothers of children under 18) alarms us not only for the affect on families in this generation but also considering the epigenetic effect of these mother/child estrangements. Everyone on our team, in one way or another, has interacted with these broken systems. The experience of our producer, Eva Minemar, whose father was in prison during much of her childhood, speaks to the core issues of 'Order My Steps.' Recalling prison visits with her father, Eva writes: "I remember being told to smile but the best I could do was grit my teeth because I was holding on as tight as I could... The system was cold, rigid, mean, and treated the families of the incarcerated like the incarcerated themselves. This would not be my last memory of what it was like to love someone who is trapped on the inside. This would not be the last time my father was sent 'away'.”

We are happy that those affected by incarceration have warmed to the story as a depiction that neither degrades nor sentimentalizes the prison experience. We have been using readings of the film to raise funds and awareness at events like the St. Francis College Criminal Justice Reform and Re-entry Conference, the Andromedea Sisters Benefit raising money for New Hour for Women and Children LI and we had a fundraiser/reading for New Beginnings-Next Steps in Wilmington, DE.