Programs allow moms, newborns to bond in jail

Serena Garduza said the Indiana nursery, an extension of the medium-security facility's Family Preservation Program, gives her infant son a better shot at success in life than she had.

Garduza, 31, grew up in foster care after being taken away from her mother, with whom she has lost touch. She stayed in school only until the ninth grade. On probation for theft and receiving stolen property, she was sent to the prison last December after testing positive for cocaine and gave birth to Ramerio, her fifth child, four weeks ago.

Garduza and Ramerio now share a cell with a lone window barred by rounds of razor wire — a stark contrast to the crib, bright white curtains and stenciled moon and stars on the powder blue cinderblock walls.

"I know I'm in prison and all that, but I kind of put my mind out of it," said Garduza, who's due to leave prison this summer. "When he's with me, I really don't feel like I'm incarcerated."

Needed opportunity
The program recognizes that people make mistakes, said Jennifer Pope Baker, director of the Women's Fund of Indiana, which picks up parts of the costs of the nursery and the Family Preservation Program. Clothing, diapers and other items are donated.

"A lot of women who are here today are because they landed harder than perhaps you and I did when we made mistakes one day," Baker said. "We want to give them the leg up and the opportunity they need when they come back out."

That day is coming soon for Lankey, 31, and baby Kevin. Her sentence for violating probation for the bad check she passed is due to run out the first week of June.

She and Kevin will join her two daughters, ages 5 and 9, along with Kevin's grandparents and other family members.

"Out there it's a little bit more chaotic," Lankey said. "We're enjoying this time right now, we really are."

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