海角大神

Dressed in her Sunday best 鈥� pink ruffled sleeves and a rainbow tulle tutu 鈥� Crystal Martinez鈥檚 4-year-old daughter proudly presents her with a multicolored bouquet of carefully crafted tissue paper flowers. With her 5-year-old son nestled on her lap, laughing in delight, Ms. Martinez holds out her arms and pulls the girl into a hug so tight that her glasses are knocked askew.

鈥淚 want you! I don鈥檛 want the flowers,鈥� Ms. Martinez says, smiling and holding her children close.

Ms. Martinez鈥檚 five children, including three aged 13, 10, and 6, last month traveled for three hours from Chicago to visit her in Logan Correctional, Illinois鈥� largest state prison for women and transgender people, on the Reunification Ride. The donation-dependent initiative buses prisoners鈥� family members 180 miles from the city to Logan every month so they can spend time with their mothers and grandmothers.

The number of incarcerated women in the United States dropped by tens of thousands because of COVID-19. But as the criminal justice system returns to business as usual and prison populations creep back to pre-pandemic norms, more children are being separated from their mothers, putting them at greater risk of health and behavioral problems and making them vulnerable to abuse and displacement.

Black and Hispanic women are more likely to be imprisoned than white women and are affected disproportionately by family separation due to incarceration.

Women held at Logan describe the Reunification Ride 鈥� one of the increasingly rare, under-funded programs designed to keep families together 鈥� as a crucial lifeline.

鈥淚 thank God that it is at least once a month. Some people don鈥檛 get to see their kids at all,鈥� says Joshlyn Allen, whose 5- and 3-year-old children were visiting her with their grandmother.

The kids and their caregivers meet at 7 a.m. at a South Side big box store parking lot, bleary-eyed but excited. Organizers hand out snacks, games, water, and coloring supplies as they get on the road.

Three hours later, the charter bus pulls up at the facility鈥檚 barbed wire gates in Lincoln, Illinois, with children peering from the windows. As families progress slowly through security, shouts of 鈥淢ommy!鈥� and squeals of glee fill the prison gym made cheerful with handmade decorations.

The prisoners create decorations for the visits, including colorful paper flowers, butterflies, family photos framed in construction paper, and even the bouquet presented to Ms. Martinez by her daughter. Families are not allowed to bring anything besides essentials, such as diapers.

The number of women incarcerated in the U.S. dropped by about 30%, to 146,000, from 2019 to 2020, according to U.S. Department of Justice data. The nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative attributes that decrease to slowdowns in court proceedings, temporary process changes, and efforts to reduce prison populations due to the pandemic.

But female prison and jail populations are rebounding to pre-pandemic levels.

鈥淲e are seeing more and more families separated,鈥� said Alexis Mansfield, Reunification Ride coordinator for the Women鈥檚 Justice Institute.

About 58% of women in state or federal prisons are parents of minor children in the U.S. Black and Latina women experience greater incarceration rates than white women and are about as likely or more likely to be parents, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Although women are far less likely to be imprisoned than men, their incarceration can have outsized effects on families, Ms. Mansfield said. She has witnessed children reuniting with their incarcerated mothers after months or years apart who 鈥渋mmediately disclose that they鈥檙e being abused or that they鈥檙e facing a challenge at school.鈥�

鈥淭hat bond between mothers and children is so strong. And without seeing their moms, very often kids are in vulnerable positions with nobody to turn to,鈥� she said.

Gina Fedock, professor at the University of Chicago鈥檚 Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, researches the well-being of marginalized women, particularly those behind bars.

Programs like Reunification Ride that offer recurring visits are rare in the U.S., Ms. Fedock said.

鈥淢ost states don鈥檛 have such opportunities,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real lack of consistent resources, particularly these types of transportation programs.鈥�

Researchers from the University of Chicago found only one similar initiative in a nationwide sweep, Hour Children in New York, Ms. Fedock said.

Incarcerated women tend to be the primary caregivers and often are the breadwinners, meaning children whose mothers are imprisoned are frequently displaced or enter the child welfare system, she said.

The impact of this kind of 鈥渁mbiguous loss鈥� of a parent can lead to increased risk of health issues, developmental delays, behavioral problems, and education issues, since kids moving in with a different caregiver often have to switch schools abruptly, according to the researcher.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really easy for [the children] to fall through the cracks,鈥� Ms. Fedock said.

Maintaining the maternal bond can reduce 鈥渢he traumatic effects of parental incarceration for those children and their families,鈥� Ms. Fedock explained. 鈥淓very constraint on the parent constrains the parenting relationship.鈥�

Nyia Pritchett says she was unable to visit her mother, Latonyia Dextra, without Reunification Ride. Before the trip, she had not seen her mother in person for three years.

Ms. Pritchett, who lives an hour outside of Chicago, awoke at 4 a.m. to catch the bus.

鈥淚t鈥檚 worth it,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o much time my mom has missed out on our lives. The little times like this mean a lot.鈥�

Her mother, Ms. Dextra, is serving a 28-year sentence and has been imprisoned since Ms. Pritchett was a child. During the visit, she braids Ms. Pritchett鈥檚 vibrant red curls into a crown.

鈥淚t felt like when I was a little girl,鈥� Ms. Pritchett says.

Ms. Pritchett weeps as she recounts the time spent without her mother. Ms. Dextra holds her and wipes away her tears.

Ms. Dextra says her children give her hope and that 鈥渢his program means a lot.鈥�

The Reunification Ride, formerly the recipient of public funds that dried up in 2015 during Illinois鈥� two-year budget impasse, has been adopted by nonprofits that rely on crowdsourcing and volunteers to keep the program alive. Each trip costs about $3,000 to $3,500.

鈥淲e realized that this was just too important to stop,鈥� Ms. Mansfield said.

Erika Ray is serving a 42-year sentence for armed robbery and murder. Her 23-year-old daughter, Jada Lesure, was just 7 when her mother was charged. Ms. Lesure now brings her 4-year-old son to visit.

The programs offer a child-friendly, welcoming alternative to the strict rules of a typical visit behind glass or in small visitor spaces where kids struggle to sit still, without games or food, Ms. Ray says.

鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 any program like this鈥� when Jada was a child, Ms. Ray says, watching her grandson zoom happily around the gym.

But even as an adult, Ms. Lesure says, 鈥淚 need my mom. Everybody needs their mom.鈥�

Ms. Ray laments it will be a long time before she can return home.

鈥淭here is no way to punish the parent and not punish the child,鈥� she says.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.