A new policy at Bernalillo County’s detention center allows inmate mothers to breastfeed their children.
The policy lets inmates in the general population pump and store breast milk and breastfeed their children in person, twice a week.
Experts say the new policy creates a stronger bond between mothers and their children, and actually leads to a decrease in crime.
“They just have a healthier relationship, lower child abuse rates, and we know that that investment in the mother is really an investment in the child,” said Lissa Knudsen with the New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force.
The New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force says MDC is one of just 10 facilities nationwide to pass the new policy.
