Paramount+ preps Melissa Etheridge docuseries about women in prison

Melissa Etheridge (CC: Angela George)

Paramount+ is preparing to roll out a two-part docuseries fronted by musician Melissa Etheridge that is based on letters from women in jail in her hometown in Kansas.

Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken tracks what happens when five female residents from the Topeka Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in Kansas, write letters to the musician.

Using the letters as inspiration, Etheridge – who recently lost her son to opioids – then creates and performs an original song for the women, with the show also exploring substance abuse, female incarceration and grief.

It will premiere later this year and is directed by Brian Morrow and Amy Scott, and produced by Jonathan Lynch for Shark Pig Studios.

Executive producers include Kathy Rivkin Daum and William Kennedy for BMG Films, Deb Klein for Primary Wave Music, Bruce Gillmer and Michael Maniaci for MTV Entertainment Studios and Melissa Etheridge.

Etheridge said the show would provide allow viewers to “hear these remarkable stories filled with pain and struggle but also hope and healing.

“I hope that this docuseries shows viewers the challenges that women face in our prison system while also serving as a resource to those who currently are struggling.”