MIXING PRISON TIME, PARENT TIME

Kids Would Stay With Inmate Moms

RALEIGH -- The bond between mother and child should never be broken -- even
when the moms are behind bars, some inmate advocates and prison officials
say. So on Monday, they announced plans for a $3.5 million nonprofit program
to house imprisoned North Carolina mothers with their children younger than
9. Up to 20 inmates would stay at a minimum-security center with 40
children, according to a proposal presented by state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a
Carrboro Democrat. Inmates with a history of child abuse, violent or sex
offenses would not be eligible, nor would those with more than five years
left to serve. School-age children would attend nearby schools. Mothers
would take parenting, vocational and drug treatment classes.

Those mothers are women such as Stephanie Wilkerson, 20, of Wake County, who
gave birth 13 days ago at WakeMed to a son, Alexander, while a prison social
worker held her hand.

Wilkerson left the hospital -- and her baby -- 18 hours after she delivered.
Because Alexander's father is also in prison, Alexander is staying with
Wilkerson's 17-year-old sister until Wilkerson finishes the four to seven
months left on her sentence for second-degree burglary and larceny
convictions.

"At the time, it wasn't like I was leaving anything. I didn't really get to
see the baby. But as time goes by, it gets harder," she said Monday at the
N.C. Correctional Institution in Raleigh.

Now Wilkerson worries that when she does return home, her son already will
have started calling her sister Mama.

"This is my first baby," Wilkerson said and dabbed at her eyes. "I'm missing
all the firsts. I never even heard my baby cry -- he didn't cry when he left
the hospital. ... All this I'm missing, and for what?"

Kinnaird and prison officials cite statistics that show that mothers who get
help while in prison are much less likely to return to crime and that their
children are less likely to end up in prison.

"The department has long recognized the importance of the mother-child
relationship in breaking the recidivism rate," said Annie Harvey, warden of
the N.C. Correctional Institution, where pregnant prisoners are housed.

There were 200 last year, she said, 49 of whom gave birth before their
release and handed their children over to family, guardians or foster care
within days of delivery. State prisons already offer several options to
women who want to stay in touch with their children, but space is limited.

Women's prisons in California, Nebraska, New York and Washington have
embraced prison child care. Members of a committee Kinnaird formed four
years ago with grants from the Governor's Crime Commission and the Z. Smith
Reynolds Foundation visited two California programs that officials there say
reduced recidivism among female inmates from 47 percent to 27 percent and 13
percent, respectively.

But other states, including Arizona and Kansas, decided the programs posed
too many safety risks for children. Some in North Carolina share those
concerns.

"A prison is no place to raise a child," said Donna Pygott, executive
director of the N.C. Victim Assistance Network, a nonprofit agency in
Raleigh that has helped victims of violent crime since 1986.

Pygott questioned how strictly inmates would be screened, how long children
would be allowed to stay in the new center and whether children would
distract inmates. "That mother needs to focus her attention on
rehabilitation efforts so that she can come out and be a productive parent,"
she said.

Harvey said it costs about $54 a day, or $20,000 a year, to house a
minimum-security female inmate, more than it would cost in the new center.
California is planning to open a similar facility in April for 23 women and
35 children that is expected to cost between $3 million and $5 million to
operate for the next four years.

Kinnaird's group has raised $85,000 in foundation grants and hopes to raise
more through a public fund-raising campaign. It also claims the support of
several North Carolina members of Congress to get the same kind of federal
Head Start money that financed the California and Nebraska programs.

She said that in a tight budget year, the state is unlikely to support their
plans, which include a new facility, probably on property near the state
prison at Butner. They plan to apply for a Department of Correction
appropriation anyway. The department is considering a leasing agreement that
would allow the group to begin renovation or construction.

Kinnaird said the group hopes to break ground within two years.