moms, babies get a chance

Thursday, January 29, 2015
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NEW EXPECTATIONS
WILMINGTON PEACE VIGIL
Group home in Newark supports expectant
mothers on probation and fighting addiction
SUCHAT PEDERSON/THE NEWS JOURNAL
Quazire Jones (left), 16, holds a “Stop the violence” sign at a
peace rally Wednesday in Wilmington’s Hilltop section.
Shootings
spur search
for answers
JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL
Jessica Hudson, 26, holds her week-old daughter Kylee in her bedroom in a group home for women on probation and in
recovery.
MOMS, BABIES
GET A CHANCE
MELISSA NANN BURKE AND JEN RINI THE NEWS JOURNAL
NEWARK — After serving time in Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution on drug
charges, Jessica Hudson relapsed and began using opiates again. ¶ She failed
five drug tests before landing back in prison last October for violating the terms
City residents, officials
grow weary of violence
ADAM WAGNER THE NEWS JOURNAL
Seeking answers to a recent spate of gun violence
while challenging residents to take action, speakers
struck a tone of resilience Wednesday at a Wilmington
peace rally held about two blocks from where one
teenager was killed and five others were injured last
weekend.
About 75 people attended the rally, held in a small
park at the corner of North Fourth and Rodney streets.
Among those in attendance was Matt Denn, Delaware’s new attorney general, who promised action in
coming weeks that could stiffen penalties for young
people found guilty of serious firearm offenses and
that could keep juveniles facing serious charges off
the street.
“We need to look at whether we are treating 16- and
See VIGIL, Page A9
of her probation, she said. ¶ Six months pregnant, Hudson, 26, worried about
having her first baby behind bars, with no one in the delivery room but a prison
FORT DUPONT
guard. ¶ “Waiting to go to court was like a ticking time bomb,” she said. “You don’t
Flood risk concern
in redevelopment
know what’s going to happen.” ¶ The criminal justice system has long struggled
with how to best handle pregnant female offenders who use drugs.
Delaware judges often sentence these women to prison for
the duration of their pregnancy
– no matter how serious their
crime – knowing that inside
they’ll get clean and receive the
medical care needed for a
healthy baby.
Baylor prison averages 11 to
20 pregnant inmates a week,
with three-quarters of them
dealing with an addiction to opiates or other substances, according to corrections officials.
The state Department of Cor-
“It’s much
better than
sending these
ladies to
prison.”
ROBERT COUPE
CORRECTIONS COMMISSIONER
rection recently sought an alternative to detention for those
with less-serious charges.
They wanted a high level of
supervision and addiction treatment in the community, away
from the physical and emotional stress of prison. Giving mother and infant time to bond not
only gives the baby a stronger
start but becomes an incentive
for mom to stay clean.
The DOC worked with its
See CHANCE, Page A9
MOLLY MURRAY THE NEWS JOURNAL
State Planner Constance Holland said Wednesday
that the proposal to redevelop Fort DuPont is a “great
project.”
But as plans move forward to build retail or residential projects, and as Delaware City works toward
annexation, everyone needs to take into consideration
the flood and sea-level-rise risk on the 325 acres along
the Delaware River, she said.
“We have to be aware of what can happen in this
area,” she said.
That was a concern echoed by Kevin Coyle, the
principal planner at the state Department of Natural
Resources and Environmental Control.
See DUPONT, Page A6
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Thursday, January 29, 2015
THE NEWS JOURNAL delawareonline.com
Chance
said. “We hope with preparation and support that
she’ll stay out of prison
the rest of her life.”
The supervision is intense, but 25-year-old
Erin Jacobs is glad she
was sentenced to the
house after violating probation by failing a drug
test. Jacobs is expecting a
baby boy in April.
“They were going to
give me Level 3 probation,
but I knew if I did that I’d
just mess up again. When
you’re on drugs it’s really
hard to know your priorities,” Jacobs said.
“This will be a new
start away from the people that I was with before,
and a chance to be around
other girls who also want
to be clean.”
The New Expectations
home sits on a residential
block off Chapel Street.
The facility formerly
the
Emmaus
hosted
House, a shelter for homeless families. Emmaus
House closed at the end of
October, and New Expectations opened Nov. 1.
In its first year, the
$289,000 budget is supported by a mix of grant
money, private donations
and a portion of the state’s
behavioral health contract with Connections,
officials said.
Six women have participated in the program.
Three didn’t make it –
kicked out for violating
house rules, such as leaving the premises without
permission or failing a
drug test. They were taken into custody, said Jason
Miller, a DOC spokesman.
The house can accommodate up to 17 women
and infants. For now, each
has her own room. Women
can stay up to six months
after birth as they save
money, find housing and
work.
Women who go into labor while at Baylor prison
usually deliver at St.
Francis or Christiana hospital but must return to
Baylor afterward, separated from the infant. The
baby is usually handed off
to a family member or foster care, which often isn’t
best for its development,
Welch said.
scientific
“Multiple
studies say those first few
months are important to
Robinson said at the rally,
drawing some chuckles
from the crowd.
The weekend shootings
forced officials to take action. On Monday, Dennis P.
Wilmington’s
Williams,
mayor, announced a threephase initiative called Operation Disrupt. The first
part of that would see 28
officers reassigned to uniform duty in high-crime
areas on evenings and
weekends. Officials have
not released much about
the second and third parts
of the initiative, only saying that the second part
will focus on economic development.
officers
Reassigned
will conduct pedestrian
stops, impose the nighttime curfew for juveniles
and serve arrest warrants,
among other duties.
Speaking at Wednesday’s rally, Maria Cabrera,
a Wilmington councilwoman at-large, pledged
her support for the police,
but also made it clear she
thinks residents have to
step up.
“More police is not going to fix the problem,” Cabrera said. “We have to fix
the problem.”
Denn has proposed using part of the state’s
Neighborhood Building
Blocks Fund, recived in a
mortgage settlement with
JP Morgan Chase, to supplement policing programs within the city. As
part of the plan, Denn and
Wilmington officials will
ask for overtime funding
that would allow six patrol
Continued from Page A1
Vigil
Continued from Page A1
17-year-olds who have
guns, and are using guns,
in a serious enough fashion. My take on it is, we’re
not,” Denn said. He added
that the possibility of trying juveniles on certain
charges as adults could be
floated “down the road.”
Several other speakers
brought up the importance of addressing violence before it reaches a
critical point. One of them,
Keith James, asked residents to engage young
people and allow them to
participate in leadership
roles more often.
“If this is our community, why do we have to come
together after people have
already died? We have to
do more on the preventative side than the responsive side,” James said,
standing next to a line of
teenagers holding signs,
some of them including
JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL
Erin Jacobs, 25, who is seven months pregnant with her third child, looks through donated
clothing at a group home for pregnant women on probation and in recovery.
the house. It’s a lot of
rules, but it’s not prison.
The women see an obstetrician regularly, receive prenatal care and
outpatient
substance
abuse treatment. They
take parenting and lifeskills classes to ready
them for life beyond the
program.
“For some of these
women, it’s not just learning how to stay substance
free but learning how to
be a mom,” said Frances
Carlin, Connections’ clinical director for behavioral health.
The women also benefit from contact with family and friends, receiving
visitors one night a week
and on Saturdays.
“The goal here is longterm recovery,” Walters
quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi. James, 19, is a
founder of the anti-violence group, Voices for the
Voiceless, and a youth engagement assistant at
United Way of Delaware.
Jordan Ellerbe, 16, was
fatally shot Friday in the
200 block of North Broom
Street, near Wednesday’s
rally, and Saturday evening William “Lil Billy”
Rollins, Jr., 18, was killed
near the intersection of
West 21st and North Washington streets. Five others
– four of whom were teenagers – were shot during
the weekend.
Frank Robinson, president of the West Side Community Action Committee, questioned young people’s motivations, saying
money tied to the drug
trade or the “ownership”
of a corner isn’t enough to
justify killing another person.
“You’re not gonna get
rich on the corner selling
drugs. First of all, you
don’t own a poppy field,”
NEW EXPECTATIONS
WHAT: Group home for pregnant female offenders
struggling with addiction
WHERE: Newark
WHEN: Program started in November 2014
BIRTHS TO DATE: 2
CAPACITY: 17 women
FUNDING: $289,000 in public and private dollars
NOTICE
80
IF YOU ARE A PATIENT AT KAREN M. KELLY, M.D., P.A.,
1941 LIMESTONE ROAD, LIMESTONE MEDICAL CENTER,
SUITE 206, WILMINGTON, DE 19808, PLEASE BE ADVISED
THAT THIS PRACTICE IS MOVING TO PIKE CREEK, 5500
SKYLINE DRIVE, SUITE 4, WILMINGTON, DE 19808. THE
LIMESTONE OFFICE WILL CLOSE ON JANUARY 31, 2015.
DR. KELLY WILL JOIN A NEWLY FORMED PEDIATRIC
PRACTICE AT PIKE CREEK EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 1,
2015. ALL MEDICAL RECORDS WILL BE TRANSFERRED
TO AND MAINTAINED AT THE PIKE CREEK PRACTICE
LOCATION. IF YOU REQUIRE A COPY OF YOUR
MEDICAL RECORDS BEFORE JANUARY 30, 2015,
PLEASE CONTACT KAREN M. KELLY, M.D.
both mom and the child to
bond,” he said. “Close,
physical proximity with
the mother – that will not
happen if you are in prison.”
Hudson gave birth to a
daughter by cesarean section a week ago. Both mama and baby returned to
New Expectations on Sunday.
Hudson’s daughter was
healthy, but New Expectations babies could enter
the world with a dependency or neonatal abstinence syndrome, if the
mother heavily used opiates such as heroin, codeine or oxycodone.
“We keep babies in the
hospital long enough to
ensure they don’t need
medication,” said Dr.
Deborah Tuttle, a neonatologist with Christiana
Care Health System.
It is safe for moms on
methadone to breastfeed. Tuttle encourages
women to employ such
healthy practices but acknowledges that moms in
recovery might need to
take time to readjust their
lifestyles.
New Expectations has
funding for up to three
years. Since the home
opened in November, corrections officials have
briefed judges, so that
they know the alternative
is available, Coupe said.
officers to work 6 p.m. to 1
a.m. shifts every night beginning in March and lasting through the summer.
As part of their mission, the patrol officers
would emphasize face-toface interactions with residents in some of the city’s
more dangerous neighborhoods, building relationships there.
Contact Melissa Nann Burke at
324-2329, [email protected] or on Twitter @nannburke;
and Jen Rini at (302) 324-2386,
[email protected] or
@JenRini on Twitter.
Contact Adam Wagner at (302)
324-2837 or [email protected]. Follow him on
Twitter @adamwagner1990.
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healthcare provider, Connections Community Support Programs, to create
New Expectations – a
group home in Newark
for such expectant or new
mothers recovering from
addiction.
“It’s much better than
sending these ladies to
prison,” Correction Commissioner Robert Coupe
said. “Especially the ones
where the court is incarcerating them just to protect the child. That’s why
we feel a program like
this was needed.”
A judge can sentence
women to New Expectations as a condition of probation, in lieu of house arrest or incarceration. If
she qualifies, a probationer may also voluntarily
enroll, typically at the
suggestion of her probation officer, said Jim
Welch, bureau chief of
correctional healthcare
services for the DOC.
New
Expectations
won’t admit women convicted of crimes involving
violence or children, or
those with behavioral issues, Coupe said.
Once in the program,
they report to a probation
officer weekly and submit
to random drug tests. The
home is monitored 24-7 by
Connections staff, and the
women may not leave the
unsupervised,
home
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