Montana’s Mass Incarceration of Indigenous Women: Historical Trauma, Colonization, & Culturally Relevant Healing

Montana incarcerates women at one of the highest rates in the world — and Indigenous women are disproportionately represented, making up more than 40 percent of the population at Montana’s women’s prison. In this episode of Unpacking Injustice, we are joined by Kristina Lucero, a citizen of the Tseycum Band of the Saanich Nation on Vancouver Island and Director of the American Indian Governance and Policy Institute, to begin unpacking the roots of this crisis.Throughout the conversation, Kristina grounds policy and data in personal history, including the story of her grandmother, Mary Jack, a boarding school survivor whose experiences reflect the intergenerational trauma created by federal Indian boarding school policies. She explains how historical trauma continues to shape the lives of Indigenous women and families today.We also examine how colonization disrupted Indigenous governance, criminalized culture, and replaced community-based healing with punishment, and how that trauma intersects with poverty and lack of access to resources — often turning survival behaviors into pathways to incarceration.Kristina draws our attention to Montana’s women’s prison, where Indigenous women face limited access to culturally grounded healing, trauma-informed care, and meaningful rehabilitation. Kristina highlights the ripple effects incarceration has on children, families, and communities, and why healing during incarceration is essential for both individual well-being and long-term public safety when people return home.This high-level conversation begins to break down complex issues that Unpacking Injustice will continue to explore as the Montana Innocence Project implements its new strategic plan, with a specific focus on addressing the unjust incarceration of women and survivors.This episode lays the groundwork for continued dialogue, understanding, and action toward justice.