Letter: ‘Unfunding’ the prison nursery was a legislative travesty

I am a volunteer working with the staff at the Utah State Correctional Facility to open a mother/baby unit for qualified pregnant, incarcerated women. This program would really help to make the word “correctional facility” a reality for our state. The staff members working on this project, and some of the volunteers, made a visit a week ago to the Washington State Women’s Correctional Facility to learn firsthand how a successful nursery functions, including safety, education, medical oversight, and developmental issues. It was the final step, before opening in July using all we have learned.

The Utah program developers have researched all nine of the U.S. prison nursery facilities, and are passionate about keeping qualified mothers together with their babies, for approximately 18 months, in a safe, developmentally positive environment. They have the know-how, the passion, and the skills to do it. I, and the other volunteers, were very impressed with the organizational skills of this entire team from the prison. They have the ability to get this program up and running, monitor progress, correct problems and improve outcomes for mothers, babies and society. Incidentally, they were not any part of the medical crisis noted in the recent Tribune article on Utah’s prison nursery.

So, I was astounded to pick up a Tribune in the airport on the way home, and read that Rep. Candice Pierucci had stripped the funding for the nursery out of a bill she was sponsoring, and who also decided that oversight should be given to a different department than the one that has envisioned and worked for several years to create this exceptional program. To tie their hands at this point, when they are just ready to open, is unbelievable. Give them a chance to prove what they can accomplish with adequate funding.

With regard to nongovernmental oversight, the team has, as volunteers, a neonatologist who has taught emergency procedures and critical care for babies all over the world, two NICU nurses and board certified lactation consultants with a total of 89 years of experience, one who is a prenatal educator and one who has been a senior strategist for Intermountain Healthcare. We are intent on getting safeguards and standards in place to avoid a recurrence of the incident in the article. We are able to help with making sure that the day-to-day care for these moms and babies is not just adequate, but excellent. We have been doing it for years. We hope it will pass muster with Health and Human Services.

And finally, about having babies in prisons: a baby under age 2 does not know it is in prison. It only knows it is being cuddled, fed and played with by mom.

Deanne Francis, RN, IBCLC, LCCE, is an NICU nurse, board certified lactation consultant and prenatal educator with 50 years experience. The content of this letter was written solely by author as a citizen with no other input from anyone.