In Minnesota, women who give birth in prison or just before sentencing can now apply to serve their time in community alternatives instead of having to get relatives to care for their newborns while they are in jail. Women legislators who heard from mothers serving time at the state's only prison for women drove the state's new Healthy Start Act, which allows mothers to be with or in contact with their newborns for up to a year. A pregnant incarcerated woman can apply for conditional release, which is considered case by case. While eight states have prison nurseries that allow mothers to stay with newborns for one to three years after delivery, Minnesota's is the first to offer the possibility of conditional release.

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