The Utah program developers have researched all nine of the U.S. prison nursery facilities, and are passionate about keeping qualified mothers together with their babies, for approximately 18 months, in a safe, developmentally positive environment. They have the know-how, the passion, and the skills to do it. I, and the other volunteers, were very impressed with the organizational skills of this entire team from the prison.
With regard to nongovernmental oversight, the team has, as volunteers, a neonatologist who has taught emergency procedures and critical care for babies all over the world, two NICU nurses and board certified lactation consultants with a total of 89 years of experience, one who is a prenatal educator and one who has been a senior strategist for Intermountain Healthcare. We are intent on getting safeguards and standards in place to avoid a recurrence of the incident in the article.
And finally, about having babies in prisons: a baby under age 2 does not know it is in prison. It only knows it is being cuddled, fed and played with by mom. Deanne Francis, NICU nurse, is board certified lactation consultant and prenatal educator with 50 years experience., RN, IBCLC, LCCE, is an NICU nurse, board certified lactation consultant and prenatal educator with 50 years experience. The content of this letter was written solely by author as a citizen with no other input from anyone.