Alexandra Munoz-Monroy rushed to her family Tuesday morning, fiercely hugging them, seeing her kids for the first time in a year.
Munoz-Monroy has been incarcerated at the Rose M. Singer Center at Rikers Island for the past 16 months and doesn’t like her kids to visit her in that environment. But on Tuesday, a “baby shower” hosted for mothers at the jail for only the second time reunited families and provided a few hours of fun, in addition to more than a dozen tables providing information on available resources for families and kids.
“This was very emotional,” said Munoz-Monroy, from Elmont, Long Island, just before doing her daughter’s hair and helping her son collect rubber ducky toys. “I’ve been crying . . . preparing for this. It’s not going to be enough time to enjoy them.”
Shrhonda Hart, 32, found out she was pregnant about two weeks before she was incarcerated. Hart, from Harlem, gave birth to her baby while at Rikers Island and now lives with — and nurses — 5-month-old Bryce at Rikers as part of the Department of Correction’s nursery program.
The program, first started in 1985, is a 15-bed nursery that allows women who have children under a year old — and meet requirements related to things like mental health and pending charges — to stay with their child. Little Bryce is the only baby in the nursery and is known as the “prince” of the women’s facility.
“It means everything — I know this is the most important time, the first year,” said Hart, who attended the baby shower last year when she was pregnant to take in the available resources. “Even though I have a great support system … they all agree this is the best thing for him.
“All my focus is on him and his health and his well-being right now,” she added.
On Tuesday, tables with everything from books and toys to information pamphlets were available for 90 inmates — some expecting babies — and their families, including more than 120 kids. Resources included the city’s Health Department and the Health Department’s Early Intervention Program — which provides support for families with children up to 3 years old who have disabilities or developmental delays — and the Fortune Society, which works to support re-entry from incarceration.
First lady Chirlane McCray (who has spearheaded ThriveNYC, the city’s plan to address mental illness and substance misuse) talked with inmates and their children at the event, sitting down to read to them.
“Mothers, expectant mothers wherever they are, need all the help they can get and these women obviously have extra challenges,” McCray said. “We are giving them the support that they need and trying to make sure that the separation does not interfere with the child’s development.”
Winette Jackson, deputy commissioner of Youthful Offender and Young Adult Programming at the DOC, said it’s important for people to stay engaged with their families while incarcerated. Jackson helped coordinate the baby shower with the mayor’s office.
“That is the overall goal: to have families remain intact during this challenging time and to provide support to ensure that that family can support one another during this incarceration,” she said.
