Sunday, March 26, 2000
Lawmaker proposes prison nursery
Winkler, state officials work on legislation
BY MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A local state legislator is working with Ohio prison officials to help create Ohio's first baby nursery in a state prison.
Rep. Cheryl Winkler, R-Cincinnati, said she is drafting legislation to introduce in the Ohio House within two weeks that would create a nursery at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marys ville.
Ms. Winkler said she is working closely with an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) committee that recently was expanded to study such a prison nursery and provide recommendations.
She said the Enquirer's stories during the last year on the plight of Ohio prisoner Barbara Ann Turner, who fought corrections officials for the right to have her husband with her as she gave birth, helped prompt her interest.
Thanks to a federal court order, Mrs. Turner's husband was present when Mrs. Turner gave birth March 28.
“There is nothing better than to have the baby with the mother,” said Ms. Winkler, chairwoman of the Ohio House's Children and Family Services Committee. “It's a good idea for the safety and welfare of the babies. Anything we can do to support families we have to do.”
Joe Andrews, spokesman for the ODRC, said the recently expanded exploratory committee will begin meeting next month, and will assist legislators in planning a nursery.
The committee will be composed of ODRC officials and those from the Ohio Department of Human Resources, Head Start, and legal and medical experts.
Mr. Andrews said ODRC officials have met with Ms. Winkler, and expect new state laws regarding prison nurseries to be in effect before the end of the year.
“We are doing this from scratch,” he said.
Issues being considered by the committee include what types of licensing a prison facility nursery would need — as a nursery or day care — and what arrangements need to be made with prisoner rehabilitation halfway houses to accommodate the children of recently released mothers as they move back into society.
The committee also will make proposals regarding how to pay for the prison nursery, and will explore available grants.
The nursery would be equipped to accommodate prison-born babies for the first 18 months, Ms. Winkler said.
“It's a pretty simple concept, and the facilities are already there,” she said of the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
Before the late 1970s, fewer than 10,000 women were confined in state and federal prisons. By 1997, the number had exceeded 70,000, the U.S. Department of Justice reported.
The birth rate among prisoners also has grown dramatically in some states, but in Ohio, officials say the number of births has remained at 100 or fewer births per year.
Only a few states have prison nurseries. Nationwide, according to Amnesty International USA, there were an estimated 1,300 babies born to women in prison during 1997-98.
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