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What happens when a pregnant woman is convicted of a crime and has to head off to jail to serve her sentence? In most cases the baby has to head off to stay with the dad, a relative, or goes into foster care. It seems a little unfair that a baby might be punished for mom’s crimes by being ripped away from his or her mommy during the vital first few months, but what other options are there?

Some incarcerated women have the choice of keeping their babies with them while in jail. The jails have nurseries and the babies actually live with mom. This program isn’t available to everyone, but a non-violent offender who has less than eighteen months left to serve may be able to give birth and keep the baby right there in jail until release. This enables mommy and baby to bond and perhaps even breastfeed.

Some people might argue that this actually punishes the baby. It seems to me, though, that a baby could really care less where he or she is as long as mommy is there. These programs have also shown to keep the statistics of women winding up back in jail down lower than for prisons that don’t have these programs.

I’m all for this type of program. I think it’s a good idea for everyone involved. What do you think?

Tags: babies in jail, jail nurseries, pregnant inmates, social programs