Newborn children could be raised for up to 18 months within Missouri’s prison system for women. The Missouri House of Representatives has given preliminary approval to a bill that would create a prison nursery program. Representatives Bruce DeGroot, R-Chesterfield, and Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, are leading the effort. They want to let eligible state prisoners raise their newborns during those first critical months of life if the mothers want to and if the other parent does not fight for custody. Eligible offenders would include those who exhibit good behavior in prison and are nearing the end of their release.
Missouri has two women’s prisons – one in eastern Missouri’s Vandalia and another in northwest Missouri’s Chillicothe. According to the state Department of Corrections, 31 Missouri prisoners gave birth in 2020, compared to 49 the previous year and 68 in 2018.
One more vote of support would send the bill to the Senate.
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