NBC profiles the nation’s longest-running prison nursery program, at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a women’s maximum security prison in New York’s Westchester County. Opened in 1901, it has allowed hundreds of women who have started their sentences pregnant to bond with their babies while behind bars — something advocates say is best for babies and lowers the mothers’ recidivism rate. Some critics argue the nursery violates the children’s constitutional rights using taxpayer money, while placing a burden on prison staff by requiring them to double as day care workers. Bedford Hills, with one of eight prison nurseries in the U.S., has space for up to 26 mothers and serves an average of 40 each year. Officials consider the severity of the inmate mother’s crime, any past history with a child welfare agency and the length of her sentence. Babies are generally allowed to stay in the prison for a year.
The number of such programs has fluctuated as funding and sentiment have risen and fallen. Their effectiveness is under scrutiny as the number of women behind bars has skyrocketed. There are nearly 214,000 women incarcerated in the U.S. — an increase of more than 700 percent since 1980, according to nonprofit The Sentencing Project. There is no official count of how many women give birth while imprisoned. In most prisons, when a woman gives birth, her baby is taken away within 48 to 72 hours and sent to either a relative or foster care. Prison nursery supporters say that keeping newborns with their moms, even behind bars — while not a perfect solution — is better than any alternative. “Separating a mother from her child at birth is a traumatic experience for both the child and mother,” said Stephanie Covington, co-director of the Center for Gender and Justice.