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Dear listener, I hope you enjoyed the holiday with your loved ones. It's such a special time,

but you know, many people simply can't do that. People like Mary Estrada, for example.

And that's because Mary's husband, Robert, is in prison.

And it's often women, like Mary,

who carry the burden of taking care of their incarcerated loved ones.

Since we first aired this story in 2023, Mary has suffered another loss.

And I just got telling her, I'm here, mom's here,

and mom's going to fix it, and I couldn't fix it.

We'll tell you more about that and how Mary's doing today at the end of our show.

From Futuro Media, it's Latino USA. I'm Maria Innojosa. Today, Mary's journey, an intimate look at the financial and emotional burden that women carry when they have the loved one behind bars.

One in four people in the United States have a family member behind bars,

and those carrying this financial and emotional weight are disproportionately women who are not white.

Good morning. How are you? My car's dirty. That's fine. You wouldn't tell how early in the

morning it is by the way Mary Strata looks. She has a perfect blowout with

some waves framing her round, delicately made up face. It is cold. Yeah, it's very cold. I can hardly

see her dark eyes under the extra large eyelash extensions. So today is Sunday. It is

6.41 in the morning. We're in Pomona, California, leaving my house to go visit my husband in San Diego at R.J. Donovan Prison.

...