Editor’s Note: The following essay is a condensed version of a longer essay that appeared first in National Affairs. Last year, A&E ran a reality program called “Born Behind Bars,” which provides a ...

Maggie Burke testifies in support of the House prison nursery bill at the Capitol. In late June 1976, Barbara Baker gave birth to her son. “We were able to stay together five days, you know, bonding ...

Lindsay Landon beamed as her 10-month-old son, Gabriel, scooted across a playroom. He crawled over to a baby walker, proudly pulled himself up to stand — then promptly fell over. Lip quivering, he ...

One could say innocent people have had to pay for poor choices made by every prison inmate in Iowa. But it's especially true of the handful of babies born each year to women serving time in prison.

MARYSVILLE — Akila Jones considers herself “hard-headed,” someone who hasn’t always wanted to follow the rules. Her stubbornness is partly why she refused to pull her car over this spring, and instead ...

Babies behind bars sounds like the title of a really, really bad prison movie. It isn't. In fact, Ohio is ahead of the curve nationally in offering a chance for incarcerated moms to stay with their ...

Missouri is now the 10th state in the country that has a nursery imbedded within its Department of Corrections. “I got to stay with her for 48 hours, and then my husband came to get her. It was the ...

Margaret Sines holds her 1-month-old baby Noah as she feeds him in the nursery at the state Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Vandalia, Mo., on Feb. 5, 2026. Sines has ...

Five incarcerated women at the Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center in Vandalia were chosen to act as caretakers at a nursery that opened on the prison grounds in January. The ...

Ohio It's a response to an urgent problem in eight states, including California. In the past 15 years, the number of imprisoned women who are mothers of minor children has jumped 122 percent. At eight ...

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. —In addition to leaving a legacy at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Officer Bre Leath also made an impact at the Indiana Women’s Prison. Governor Eric Holcomb and ...