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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Over half of all women in U.S. prisons are mothers, as are 80% of women in jails, including many who are incarcerated awaiting trial simply because they can’t afford bail. It is estimated that up to 2 ...

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 ...

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 ...

MARYSVILLE, Ohio -- One-month-old Javon Jackson fidgets with his mom's jacket as he drinks from his bottle and holds her hand. His mom coos. Her friends laugh, and a precocious, 2-year-old toddler ...

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 ...

With its warm colours and toy-filled rooms, the Biobab nursery looks just like any other, but this is daycare with a difference. Located in the grounds of Milan's Bollate prison, the kindergarten ...