Most people thought it was a joke upon hearing it for the first time, even the man who went on to champion it through the legislature. It was an idea brought before the Missouri House four years ago, to put a nursery in one of the state’s women’s prisons.
That idea was no joke, and that nursery is about to mark one year in operation. Visitors to the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center (WERDCC) in Vandalia say the nursery has changed the feel of the entire institution—and of everyone in it.
Video by Matthew Markivee, Missouri House Communications – Story continues below
“This is not just changing people’s lives. These are lives that wouldn’t have existed without this program. This is mothers that wouldn’t have been able to bond with their kids. These are kids who couldn’t have bonded with their mother and here they can do that,” Representative Bill Allen (R-Kansas City) said.
Allen, who has carried several bills dealing with corrections issues, recently visited the WERDCC nursery along with Representative Bennie Cook (R-Houston), the vice-chairman of the House Committee on Corrections and Public Institutions.
Cook said he went into the Correctional Center not knowing what to expect.
“I heard ‘prison nursery’ and I’m like, what do we expect out of this? So, getting here and seeing the young ladies with their babies and building that bond here in the prison, I never thought I would see that,” Cook said. “It sets them up for success, and I think this is an opportunity where they, if they take it, can be productive members of society and have their babies, have their children with them. It’s a great thing to see.”
Cook and Allen found themselves in a fully reimagined wing of WERDCC’s Housing Unit 1, now dubbed “1A Nursery Wing.” Cells that once held up to six incarcerated women apiece have been repurposed. Most now house one or two mothers and their babies. Another cell has been converted into a kitchen, and others store supplies for mothers and babies, both for their stay and for when they leave.
There is an impressive supply of baby clothes; shelves full of formula and hygiene products; car seats and blankets; and stacks of diapers. Almost all of it is provided through donations.
The representatives found the women in the nursery—some mothers, some caregivers—to be candid and open about their lives. Several said the nursery is giving them something to work toward.
One of the caregivers, Brianna Johnson, perhaps said it best: “If you want to see criminals self-regulate, if you want to see women [who are] incarcerated do something different and break that [cycle of] recidivism, give them something to dream about. Give them something to dream for. Believe in them and show them hope, and they’ll show you how to break that recidivism cycle.”
That is what legislators four years ago heard the nursery would do: stem recidivism. They were told that forming bonds in the first few months after birth is just as important for mothers as it is for babies. Bill sponsors and experts testified that by allowing incarcerated mothers to remain with their babies, the likelihood of reoffending decreases dramatically.
Tara Carroll, another of the caregivers in the nursery, spoke from experience about why programs like these can make a difference.
Carroll said it is also very easy for a woman facing prison time to convince herself that her child is better off without her, and to tell herself, “‘This child’s safe where they’re at. I would be disrupting the life that they know if I were to step in,’ and then the guilt and the shame of that turns into that vicious cycle all over again. I’ve lived it and I’ve done it.”
Carroll and Johnson have each experienced being pregnant and incarcerated before the nursery was an option.
“It was terrifying, the thought of having a baby, giving birth in a random hospital with no family, chained to a bed, saying goodbye within 24 hours and coming back to this horrible place, horrible medical care, and never knowing where your baby went for sure, never seeing them off, never getting to be there for any parts after that.” Johnson said of what she went through in 2013.
Johnson and Carroll are grateful to be a part of a different reality for the moms who have been accepted into the nursery program, moms like Kathy Briggs.
“Kat,” as she is known around the nursery, was 28 and “on the run” from authorities when she found out she was pregnant. Having had two previous miscarriages, she turned herself in, believing custody would give her the best chance of bringing the pregnancy to term. She soon learned she was carrying twins and resigned herself to the belief that she would have to place them for adoption—until the judge in her case, Newtown County’s Kevin Selby, had other plans.
Briggs’ initial reaction was disbelief, but that changed once she walked into 1A Nursery Wing.
“I was just ecstatic. It changed my whole life. I went from always wanting to be a mom; to not being somebody that was ever going to be able to be a mom, I thought; to this place helping me live out my dreams,” Briggs said. “I have two beautiful girls that are thriving, that are healthy, that are taken care of, that are happy. This program really showed me that I can be that mom, regardless of the life I’ve lived.
“It’s given me a lot of hope.”
Discussions of criminal justice often include talk of breaking cycles of abuse, poverty, drug use, neglect, and other factors that contribute to incarceration across multiple generations. Legislators in 2022 were told the nursery program could help break such cycles.
Asked about this, Briggs speaks up before the question is finished. She described a childhood surrounded by drug abuse. She witnessed and later experienced domestic and sexual violence. Briggs said that with what she has learned in the nursery, her daughters, Lyric and Melody, will never experience those things.
Briggs is eager to tell her story, especially about how becoming a mother and her time in the nursery have changed her outlook. She points to a prominent tattoo on the side of her face that reads “D.N.R.,” short for Do Not Resuscitate.
“I just wanted to die for a long time,” Briggs explained, recalling what she experienced after one overdose. “I wanted all the pain to stop and I wanted peace and I knew after my OD that that was the peace I wanted.
Her eyes welling with tears, Briggs glanced at one of her daughters and said “DNR” is no longer the message she wants to portray, and she is looking for ways to pay for getting the tattoo removed.
The nursery’s social workers say Briggs and many of the mothers are beginning to think, for the first time in years—or ever—about a future. Carroll said that after this experience she wants to become a doula, and she believes this incarceration—her seventh—will be her last.
The nursery program is not available to all pregnant incarcerated women. Mothers and caregivers must pass a screening that includes a review of disciplinary history, physical and mental health, and participation in other Department of Corrections programs. Women with a history of violent sexual offenses or crimes against children are ineligible.
The program teaches more than childcare. It covers life skills so that mothers returning to their communities can care for themselves, their children, and maintain a home. Several women said they had never been taught such skills.
Another thing many of them had not learned before, Johnson said, was pride.
The administrators’ enthusiasm is just as genuine.
When asked about the nursery, Department of Corrections Director Trevor Foley’s eyes brighten and he smiles widely. He said the nursery represents the culture change the Department has been working toward.
“It’s remarkable that we can have those kinds of environments in a prison setting, and I think it’s going to be a great example of the way we can continue to work on our environments,” Foley said. “It is reflective of that culture change as people start to look at our business and our profession differently. I think it does put a real positive aspect to what we do.
“Babies make people happy, so having them around generally tends to help.”
Since opening in March 2025, 15 mothers with 16 babies have entered the program. Currently, the nursery houses five mothers and babies, along with one expectant mother. Of those who have completed the program, one mother has reoffended. The rest are back in their communities, building stable lives for themselves—and for their children—many for the first time.
“It’s already working,” Johnson said. She cited two mothers who she knows in particular, who have left the program “that have their children with them, that are thriving, that have jobs, that are caring for their children, they have stable homes. These children are not in state custody, they are not in state care, nobody else is taking care of them. It’s already working.”
In November, the man who carried the original legislation allowing the creation of the nursery was able to see it in person.
The idea was brought to Bruce DeGroot ahead of the 2022 session by Liza Weiss, founder of Missouri Appleseed. At first he thought she was joking, but over time he warmed to the idea.
“[Liza] and I politically aren’t probably on the same page, but we truly both want to just help people and this sounded like a great idea,” DeGroot said. “After I thought about it a little more, I thought it was something that would work and the Department of Corrections was just phenomenal to work with. They backed it from the beginning.”
DeGroot filed House Bill 1897 and championed the issue through the House where it received nearly unanimous support. He said the proposal proved to be an easy sell, both for its benefit to incarcerated mothers and their babies and for the economic benefit to taxpayers of reducing recidivism. The language of HB 1897 was eventually included in Senate Bill 683, which became law.
When DeGroot and Weiss visited the nursery in November, someone mentioned the role they played in its creation. The mothers and caregivers gathered to thank them. One of them was Kathy Briggs.
“It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done here in the General Assembly.”
As word spread about the nursery before it became reality, some staff and many incarcerated women in Vandalia were skeptical. Perkins said those attitudes have shifted. The program is now fully supported and has raised morale throughout the institution.
“It’s been so impactful just for the overall mood here. They say you can’t have a bad day if you’re looking at a baby, and I think that’s just really true,” Perkins said. “I think that the reality of what we’re doing has changed so many hearts and minds.”
Back inside 1A Nursery Wing, the moms and caregivers say they are grateful for the family they have found.
“We are sent to prison as a punishment, but we have really found such an opportunity amongst the punishment that we just couldn’t have got anywhere else,” Andrews said. “If we would have had these babies on the streets, even if we would have found a good rehab, we wouldn’t have had the community here with each other. We all help each other. It’s like these kids have nine moms.”
Those opportunities, that community, and those smiling little faces are what these women say have changed them.
“Can you imagine what it makes somebody like a five-time felon feel like, to know that there’s people looking up to me? Like I can do something different?” asked Johnson, who said she has started work toward a degree in communication. She, too, is looking toward her future.
“Like I said: if you want to change people’s lives, give them something to hope for.”
Those wishing to make a physical donation to the nursery such as diapers or blankets can contact Program Director Kim Perkins at Kimberley.Perkins@doc.mo.gov or call 573-594-6686 Ext: 2723. To donate a check or money order, mail it to:
Correctional Center Nursery Program
Missouri Department of Corrections
P.O. Box 236
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Pronouncers:
Bruce DeGroot = [de-GROTE]
Brianna Johnson = [bree-ANNE-uh]
Liza Weiss = [LIE-zuh WICE]
Stories from 2022:
Prison nurseries proposal heard in House committee
House gives initial approval to nurseries in Missouri prisons
Sponsors of prison nurseries proposal point to successes in other states
‘Prison nurseries’ proposal would let incarcerated mothers bond with newborns in prison