Santa visited Missouri's prison nursery, where the most precious gifts had already been delivered.
Story By Marcus Wilkins. Photos by Garry Brix.
Seated beneath a 12-foot Christmas tree and a mound of multicolored presents, Santa Claus delivered holiday cheer to the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center (WERDCC) Prison Nursery Program.
Still, Jolly Old St. Nick — played by Glenn Corser, a Missouri Department of Corrections recruiter and retired captain — faced stiff competition from the room’s other bundles of joy, as babies crawled, giggled, babbled and snoozed throughout the festively decorated great room.
For the nine mothers and 10 babies at the facility, which opened in February 2025, this holiday season is uniquely magical. While residents celebrated their babies’ first Christmas together — complete with donated gifts from Central Missouri Community Action — the room filled with gratitude, hope and optimism.
“I feel so blessed and thankful to be able to be here,” said Cheyenne Taylor, who welcomed her 5-pound, 5-ounce daughter Haley earlier this month. “It really is amazing to bond with her and spend time with her — especially after everything that we went through.”
Haley is among three true Christmas miracles being celebrated at WERDCC this season. Taylor, who has a condition that weakens her heart valves, delivered her daughter in the cardiac ICU at MU Children’s Hospital in Columbia. Doctors gave her a 5% chance of survival and used forceps to deliver the baby, avoiding the pushing that could have fatally taxed Taylor’s heart.
Nearby sits Cloey Poland with her newborn daughter — appropriately named Miracle — who stopped breathing shortly after birth and was flown by helicopter from Hannibal to Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis.
“She’s an angel — my angel,” Poland said. After enduring seven miscarriages prior to Miracle’s arrival, she said the program’s community has been essential. “It has been such a blessing to have the support of these other mommies in this environment.”
A third emergency involved former resident Zoe Brewington and her son, Tripp, who were discharged from WERDCC this month. Tripp began choking on his baby formula and stopped breathing until a resident caregiver performed the infant Heimlich maneuver and cleared the obstruction.
“Day after day, I see these women striving to better themselves for their babies,” said Program manager Kim Perkins. “They’re overcoming barriers and past trauma to prepare for a better future, and it’s just an amazing thing to be part of.”
One of the next mothers preparing to leave is Kathy Briggs, mother of twins Lyric and Melody — now 39 weeks old and sporting their first baby teeth. High on Briggs’ list of gratitude this Christmas is knowing where she and her children will land when she leaves at the end of January for Promises of Hope, a communal home for formerly incarcerated mothers in Elsberry, Missouri.
“I believe God is blessing us and guiding all three of us,” Briggs said. “I’m sure I’ll cry all the way home when I leave, but I hope to come back as a mentor someday.”