With high populations of women in prison across the nation, it may not be a surprise that many often are already pregnant at the time they are incarcerated. In the past, mothers in prison would have to leave their child to be cared for by the state or with a relative, most often a grandparent. However, within the past five years, new programs that allow women to care for their child in prison for a set amount of time have been created. In an article in Our Bodies, Ourselves, they reported that states have opened nurseries for those mothers so they could care for their babies for up to 18 months. Also, other community-based residential parenting programs are available, allowing women to serve criminal justice sentences with their infants in a non-prison setting. The women are usually allowed to leave to attend doctor and social service appointments and other community programs, often receiving drug or alcohol abuse treatment.
For the most part, only women who have not committed previous crimes of child abuse or neglect are eligible candidates for the programs, and they have to sign a waiver that they release the facility from any responsibility of illnesses or injuries that may happen to the child. A total of nine states have adopted these child nurseries which include California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, New York, South Dakota, Washington and West Virginia.
