From The Marshall Project:
In November 2022, Victoria Lopez went into early labor in a Minnesota jail cell. Like most incarcerated parents, she thought she’d have to say goodbye to her newborn twins just hours after giving birth. But Lopez was lucky. Before she went to prison to serve seven years and four months, she was enrolled in a new state program designed to maintain the bond between infants and their mothers. Under the Healthy Start Act passed in 2021, Lopez can spend up to a year at home with her twins and her other two children.
But Lopez, 35, isn’t the typical participant. The majority of pregnant people enrolled are serving short sentences,and will give birth within a year of the end of their sentence. After these participants deliver their babies, they can finish up to the last year of their sentence with their newborns under community supervision. Successful participants get to remain home with their children once they complete their program requirements.
Lopez is scheduled to go to prison in less than four months. Here, she reflects on both the joy of spending time with her twins and the inevitable trauma of separation. Continue reading >>>
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