This rare, underfunded program is seen as a crucial lifeline for incarcerated moms and their kids

By CLAIRE SAVAGE
Associated Press/Report for America

LINCOLN, Ill. (AP) — Tens of thousands fewer women were incarcerated in the U.S. between 2019 and 2020 due to COVID-19, but as 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 their white counterparts and are disproportionately affected by family separation due to incarceration. Rare programs like the Reunification Ride, a donation-dependent initiative that buses prisoners’ family members from Chicago to Illinois’ largest women’s prison every month so they can spend time with their mothers and grandmothers, are a crucial lifeline for families, prisoners say.