Reunification Ride helps kids visit moms in Illinois prison

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Dressed in her Sunday best — pink ruffled sleeves and a rainbow tulle tutu — Crystal Martinez’s 4-year-old daughter proudly presents her with a multicolored bouquet of carefully crafted tissue paper flowers. With her 5-year-old son nestled on her lap, laughing in delight, Martinez holds out her arms and pulls the girl into a hug so tight that her glasses are knocked askew.

Martinez’s five children, aged 13, 10, 6, 5 and 4, traveled for three hours from Chicago to visit her in Logan Correctional, Illinois’ largest state prison for women and transgender people, on the Reunification Ride. The donation-dependent initiative buses prisoners’ family members 180 miles (290 km) from the city to Logan every month so they can spend time with their mothers and grandmothers.

The number of incarcerated women in the United States dropped by tens of thousands because of COVID-19. But as the criminal justice system returns to business as usual and prison populations creep back to pre-pandemic norms, more children are being separated from their mothers, putting them at greater risk of health and behavioral problems, and making them vulnerable to abuse and displacement. Black and Hispanic women are more likely to be imprisoned than white women and are affected disproportionately by family separation due to incarceration.

Women held at Logan describe the Reunification Ride — one of the increasingly rare, under-funded programs designed to keep families together — as a crucial lifeline.

“I thank God that it is at least once a month. Some people don’t get to see their kids at all,” said inmate Joshlyn Allen, whose 5- and 3-year-old children were visiting with their grandmother.

The kids and their caregivers meet at 7 a.m. at a South Side big box store parking lot, bleary-eyed but excited. Organizers hand out snacks, games, water and coloring supplies as they get on the road.

Three hours later, the charter bus pulls up at the facility’s barbed wire gates in Lincoln, Illinois, and children peer curiously from the bus windows. As families progress slowly through the intensive security process, shouts of “Mommy!” and squeals of glee fill the prison gym made cheerful with colorful handmade decorations.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

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[Children and chaperone in a bus]

[Child seated on a bus]

[Joshlyn Allen hugging her child]

Joshlyn Allen (interview): “Just been incarcerated like, I haven’t seen them in like seven, eight months so it’s like me seeing them right now this is like very grate to me, like I haven’t seen them in so long so when he first walked through the door, he like, mommy, he couldn’t believe like he was seeing his mommy right now. Like, this is my pride and joy, this is my best friends.”

[Erika Ray, incarcerated at Logan Correctional Center, holding grandchild on her lap]

Erika Ray (interview): “There’s no way to punish a parent and not punish a child. You know, like, especially if there’s no resources for the kids like that even further, like, exacerbates the punishment that they experience on their end.”

[Photographs of incarcerated mothers with their children and grandchildren]

Erika Ray (interview): “The reunification bus rides have really helped us to stay connected through physical visits. So like, if it wasn’t for this, like, I’m not sure how often we would get to see each other.”

Crystal Martinez (interview): “These visits, to be able to touch them, physically, emotionally, show them that I care, that because I’m in here I still want to make a difference in their lives, that they still matter to me, no matter the distance, the miles, no matter how far, these bars cannot stop the motherhood and the bond that we share together.”

[Crystal Martinez hugging her children]

Nyia Pritchett (interview): “So much time my mom that missed out of our lives. The little times like this means a lot.”

[Children and mothers seated at tables, being served food]

[Nyia Pritchett hugging her mom, Latonya Dextra, incarcerated at Logan Correctional Center]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.

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