American Civil Liberties Union Asking a Judge to Order the State to Fully Implement Program for Incarcerated Moms

Tuesday, June 18th, 2024 -- 10:00 AM

(Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio) The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin is asking a judge to step in and order the state to fully implement a program for incarcerated moms.

According to Sarah Lehr with Wisconsin Public Radio, the lawsuit filed last week argues Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections isn’t complying with a decades-old state law designed to help incarcerated mothers keep physical custody of their infants.

That 1991 law states those services, known as a “mother-young child care program” shall be available to women in the system who are pregnant or have babies under 1 year old. The law states the program must be available to women who are “prisoners or on probation, extended supervision or parole.”

It also says women can be approved by the department to participate as an alternative to ending up back behind bars because their probation, extended supervision or parole was revoked. Close to a dozen other states have prison nursery programs, which allow incarcerated women to continue parenting their newborns, according to the ACLU.

Some of those programs allow children to remain with their mothers until they’re 18 months old. But the ACLU’s lawsuit says Wisconsin has failed to offer a child care program for incarcerated mothers, despite requirements in a law that’s been on the books for more than 30 years.

“A child should not be deprived of forging a relationship with their parent just because the parent is caught up in the criminal legal system,” said Haley Archer, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin.

“Contact between incarcerated people and their families has positive impacts for everyone, including better health, reduced recidivism, improved school performance.”

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