United States: Model Programming and Building Community at Bedford Hills Prison Nursery with Jane Silfen (Episode 4)

In this episode, Paul Dosh speaks with Jane Silfen, the Director of Programs for Hour Children, a nonprofit organization that supports current and previously incarcerated women through educational, vocational, and family-oriented programs. Silfen leads the mother-child care initiatives at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York, which has the nation’s oldest prison nursery program. She describes the prison nursery’s rich history and the core values it was founded on, as well as how its initial mission has taken shape through the program’s accommodations and specialized services such as doulas, lactation consultants, and a full-time on-site manager. Finally, she describes the tactics that Hour Children utilizes to connect incarcerated women with their older children in order to strengthen the bonds of all types of families impacted by incarceration. Transcript (English) [PDF]