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Incubating Hope

New prison nursery program helps incarcerated moms bond with their babies, learn parenting skills and access programming.

Prison Nursery Program caregivers, incarcerated residents of the Vandalia prison, help support moms and babies, providing childcare, respite and advice.

Select residents who are expectant mothers at Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center (WERDCC) in Vandalia, Missouri, are moving into a newly completed nursery. Thanks to bipartisan legislation passed in 2022 by the Missouri General Assembly, a WERDCC housing unit wing has been remodeled to accommodate up to 14 moms and their babies and provide space for educational programming that prepares them for success.

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Improving Lives for Safer Communities

In the Missouri Department of Corrections, we foster public safety, health and wellness. We support victims and give back to people in need. We facilitate treatment, education and job training to equip justice-involved Missourians with the skills they need to contribute to the state’s communities, inside and outside our walls. About 96 percent of people who enter prison return to Missouri cities and towns. We want to make sure they're good neighbors.