First ever infant nursery for incarcerated expectant mothers opened

The first ever infant nursery established for incarcerated expectant mothers was formally opened at the South Camp Adult Correctional Centre in St Andrew on Tuesday.

The facility, built at a cost of more than $13 million, comprises three rooms furnished with cribs, beds, toys, and feeding chairs, and has a general wash area with changing table, and shower and bathroom facilities.

It is also equipped with two ramps to facilitate wheelchair access.

Ground for the project, the brainchild of State Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, was broken on April 17, 2024.

Construction was completed in five months.

Addressing the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Cuthbert-Flynn said the nursery's establishment is in keeping with the Ministry's ongoing efforts to provide an environment that is conducive to rehabilitation.

“This nursery is a testament to our Government's commitment to modernising our correctional system and ensuring that, even within these walls, there is a space for compassion, there is a space for dignity and there is a space for growth. This is not just brick and mortar. It is also a signal of our vision for a more inclusive and humane correctional service,” she said.

The state minister pointed out that the facility “also aligns directly with the National Correctional Service Policy, which was tabled in Parliament recently, and is now at the Green Paper stage”.

“In particular, Objective Four… Strategies One and Two of this Policy, have laid the foundation for [Tuesday's] achievement, calling for the establishment of staffing positions dedicated to women and children, and the creation of specialised facilities that will promote child development and [in a] proper setting within the correctional facilities,” Cuthbert-Flynn stated.

Superintendent of the South Camp Adult Correctional Centre, Joycelyn Roach Spencer, said for the first time in its history, the Department of Correctional Services can boast a state-of-the-art nursery in one of its female facilities.

“This will be available for our inmate mothers to be comfortable in an uncomfortable period of being pregnant and having to care for an infant, while serving a sentence,” she said.

Superintendent Roach Spencer added: “Our response, as correctional custodians at the end of the crime-fighting spectrum, is to ensure that mother and child are treated well, giving antenatal and postnatal care as well as good diet and nutrition.

“Comfort at this time for the mother and the infant is important,” she underscored.

- JIS News

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