Andrea Casamento’s journey from personal pain to collective advocacy highlights how families of incarcerated people—especially women—transform isolation into strength, leading to global recognition of their rights. Through ACiFaD’s partnership with CWS, her work has reshaped policy, elevated lived experience and inspired international action against systemic injustice.
Photo Courtesy of ACiFaD
When Andrea Casamento stepped onto the TEDx Río de la Plata stage for the second time, her message was clear: change begins with pain, but it grows through community.
Eight years ago, in her first TED talk, Andrea shared how her son’s unjust imprisonment transformed her life. That experience led her to create ACiFaD, a space for women who, like her, waited in prison lines carrying heavy bags and heavier silences. Together, they turned isolation into collective strength.
This reality is far from isolated. As explained in a blog co-authored by CWS’s Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Martin Coria, “With over 1.9 million people currently imprisoned in Latin America and the Caribbean, at least five family members per incarcerated person bear the impacts of incarceration. These impacts primarily affect women and girls, who often experience multiple forms of gender-based violence (GBV) and rights abuses by degrading, inefficient and under-resourced penitentiary and judicial systems.”
CWS and ACiFaD: A Decade of Partnership
Since 2014, CWS has supported ACiFaD’s growth. Learning that defending the rights of children with incarcerated parents (NNAPEs) means understanding the struggles of their caregivers, and research and experience confirm this reality. In fact, 95% of NNAPEs are cared for by women, who also shoulder the emotional and logistical weight of judicial processes.
In 2015, ACiFaD joined Plataforma NNAPEs, one of our closest partners in the regional effort to make these realities visible and advocate for systemic change. With CWS’s support, Andrea participated in global advocacy spaces—from the UN Commission on the Status of Women to Beyond the Bars—discovering that families face similar challenges worldwide.
Milestones Achieved
Her persistence paid off. In 2021, Andrea became the first woman with lived experience to join the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. Recently, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a resolution recognizing the rights of these families—a milestone born from years of advocacy.
In her recent TED talk, Andrea explained that prison imposes three stages: “One disorienting, another long one of survival—the sentence—and sometimes, regaining freedom.” She concluded with an invitation: “I can no longer—and do not want to—say that we were not seen or heard. I want to say: let’s keep the conversation going, and life will show us the good that is yet to come.”
At CWS, we are proud to have walked this path alongside ACiFaD. Because when voices rise together, change is not only possible—it is inevitable.
Recently, Andrea’s life story was brought to the big screen in the film La Mujer de la Fila (The Woman in the Line), now available on Netflix in several countries. You can also watch Andrea’s TED talk here.
To learn more about CWS’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean, click here.