A novel prison program for pregnant women and their babies
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Victoria Lopez, pregnant with twins, had a one year old son when she was sentenced to prison on a drug charge. She had gotten treatment for her substance use disorder, started a job, and attended community college, but a judge said it wasn't enough.Victoria Lopez -
Victoria Lopez went into labor in jail while awaiting a transfer to a state prison. Her twins were born shortly afterwards and were sent to a hospital neonatal intensive care unit.Victoria Lopez -
The Healthy Start program allowed Victoria Lopez to spend the first year of her twins' lives at home with them and their toddler brother. She's now appealing her 88-month prison sentence.Victoria Lopez
Victoria Lopez was in jail in southern Minnesota, waiting to get sent to prison on drug charges, when she went into labor. Her twin girls were delivered soon after by emergency C-section. When they got taken to the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, at another hospital, Lopez wasn't allowed to go.
"So I had to say goodbye to my daughters and I didn't know when I'd see them again," she said. "I sat there in that room alone. Well, not alone. I had the guards with me."
She was in that room when she got a call from the parenting coordinator at the prison. "Due to your situation with the twins needing NICU and extra care," Lopez remembered the woman telling her, "we'd like to put you in this program."
A healthy start
Minnesota lawmakers passed the Healthy Start Act in 2021. It is believed the state is the first to allow some mothers to live outside of prison with their new babies. A handful of other states, including Indiana and Washington, have nurseries that let incarcerated mothers keep their babies with them inside prison. In most places, a woman who gives birth in jail or prison is separated from her baby within hours or days.
The Department of Corrections oversees Minnesota's program. Deputy Commissioner Safia Khan said the idea was to find ways to "prevent that separation from happening at a very critical time for the development of that newborn baby and to allow for that mother-child bond."
That was certainly the case for Lopez, whose Facebook page is now filled with pictures and videos of her with the twins – from the time they were tiny infants to more recent pictures of them crawling around, along with pictures of their two-year-old brother.
All pregnant and recently postpartum women who come into Minnesota's prison system are considered eligible for the Healthy Start program. In the last two years, 38 women have been screened for the program, although only 12 have been accepted. Women can be rejected if their sentences are too long or if their parental rights have been terminated, among other reasons.
The Department of Corrections is trying to make the program more accessible so more parents can participate.
The bigger question for many is why these women are getting caught up in the criminal legal system in the first place.
A complicated picture
"For me, the most important and critical piece of this puzzle is just how complicated these families and circumstances are," said Rebecca Shlafer, a professor at the University of Minnesota. Her work focuses on families and incarceration and she is currently evaluating the prison's pregnancy program for the Department of Corrections.
"We need to move upstream to earlier interventions and earlier investments in maternal and child health as a crime prevention strategy," she said, "so that we are not at the end of a line here saying, how do we solve all of these really complex social problems with one intervention called the Healthy Start Act?"
For Lopez, who started substance use treatment and enrolled in community college after she was arrested, the Healthy Start program enabled her to bond with her babies.
But it wasn't enough to stop the separation she had been dreading from happening.
The judge sentenced her to 88 months in prison. Just days after her twins' one-year birthday, Lopez began her sentence. She's currently appealing the decision.
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Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
When an incarcerated woman gives birth, she's typically separated from her baby within days or even hours. Minnesota now allows some of these moms to spend more time at home with their new babies. Alisa Roth has this report.
ALISA ROTH, BYLINE: When Victoria Lopez went into labor, she was in jail in southern Minnesota, waiting to get sent to prison on drug charges. Her twin girls were delivered by emergency C-section. And when they got taken to the NICU at another hospital, Lopez wasn't allowed to go.
VICTORIA LOPEZ: So I had to say goodbye to my daughters, and I didn't know when I'd see them again. And I sat there in that room alone - well, not alone. I had the guards with me.
ROTH: She was in that room when she got a call from the parenting coordinator at the prison. Lopez remembers the woman telling her...
LOPEZ: Due to your situation with the twins needing NICU and extra care, we'd like to put you in this program.
ROTH: The program is Healthy Start, which lets incarcerated women stay home with their babies for up to a year. Safia Khan is deputy commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Corrections, which oversees Healthy Start.
SAFIA KHAN: The idea was, how do we prevent that separation from happening at a very critical time for the development of that newborn baby and to allow for that mother-child bond?
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LOPEZ: Where are you going?
ROTH: Victoria Lopez's Facebook page is filled with pictures and videos that illustrate that bond, her cooing to a tiny baby in a bouncy chair and talking to them as they crawl around. A handful of states, including Indiana and Washington, have nurseries that let incarcerated mothers keep their babies with them inside prison. But Minnesota lets women stay home with their child. All pregnant and recently postpartum women who come into the state's prison system are considered eligible. So far, 38 women have qualified, though only 12 have been accepted. Women can be rejected if their sentences are too long or if their parental rights have been terminated, among other reasons. The Department of Corrections is trying to make it more accessible, but there's a far bigger question - why these women are getting caught up in the criminal legal system to begin with.
REBECCA SHLAFER: For me, the most important and critical piece of this puzzle is just how complicated these families and circumstances are.
ROTH: Rebecca Shlafer is a professor at the University of Minnesota whose work focuses on families and incarceration. She's currently evaluating the project for the Department of Corrections.
SHLAFER: We need to move upstream to earlier interventions and earlier investments in maternal and child health as a crime prevention strategy, so that we are not at the end of a line here saying, how do we solve all of these really complex social problems with one intervention called the Healthy Start Act?
ROTH: Because there will always be complicated situations like Victoria Lopez's. Soon after she was arrested, Lopez started substance use treatment. She got a job and enrolled in community college. But the judge sentenced her to 88 months in prison anyway, so the Department of Corrections legally can't let her stay out any longer. Lopez started her sentence just days after her twins turned 1. She's currently appealing the decision.
For NPR News, I'm Alisa Roth in St. Paul.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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