In writer/director Karina Michel’s (‘Heart of Florida’) new short documentary, ‘Women Incarcerated’; we delve into the lives of several young women imprisoned in a Florida correctional facility, as they are redeemed and ultimely rehabilitated by a weekly hair braiding class led by acitivist Alisha Hinton.

The film mostly spends time with Hinton as she is interviewed both in and out of the jail as well as a few snippets of some of the inmates as they express their desire to be free and a second chance to re-enter society with a new ray of hope and purpose.

Hinton is later revealed to be a social activist inspired to help people like from her old neighborhood who never got to have a second chance and having the stigma of being in prison be their lasting legacy.

Director Michel also appears throughout the film interviewing the inmates and also narrating their inspiring stories through voiceover.

Despite a few pieces on some of the women about their own private hardships and having loved ones and children with inmates, the film never truly digs into who these people really are, what they did to become imprisoned, and the daily hardships of prison and the toll it takes on each individual from an emotional or psychological viewpoint. Instead, Michel films herself for much of the running time asking standard questions to both Hinton and the inmates on what they hope to achieve.

For top class documentary filmmaking, the audience needs to see deep inside this prison and inside the walls of each women and their own personal journey and why the program means so much to them. Instead, we get surface questions and pleasing replies without ever truly getting to know these unique women and what makes this progam as inspiring as it should be.

Despite this, the film succeeds in giving an important spotlight on Hinton and many other social trailblazers who are inspiring blue collar women to see beyond their prison bars and into a future of new possibilities and hope.

It’s a shame we never get to see beyong their own view into a new horizon instead.

(‘Women Incarcerated’ is the recent recipient of the excellence award winner at the 2026 Documentaries without borders international film festival. )

Watch the trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Q3N5C-scw

Documentary, USA, 20 minutes, Tallulah Films.

‘Women Incarcarated’ is available on YouTube.