BOOB'R - The Next Breast Thing to Ensure Parenting with Dignity

One of the sweetest smells in the world is the scent of a newborn baby's head. 

When a newborn baby is laid on a mother's breast it instinctively knows her scent, her touch, her taste. 

This wasn’t the case for Charlotte. Charlotte gave birth alone and was discouraged from breastfeeding because within 24 to 48 hours, her child would be taken away from her and Charlotte would return to the cold concrete and steel prison cell to finish serving her sentence. 

For women like Charlotte, the maternal bond was literally severed almost immediately. Charlotte was just one of the 1.7 million mothers incarcerated in the US annually. In 2020 according to Maryland Department of Corrections reporting, 60 pregnant individuals were incarcerated with 23 infants being born.  

It was seeing women like Charlotte when I was behind bars that motivated the last 20 years of my work as a leading national advocate for women in prison. 

In short, I do what I do because of things that I saw and that I have experienced. 

Why us? Our team is unique because we operate in a partnership model… we are unique because we have the lived experience of maternal incarceration and we have established our credibility and our leadership in this reform space. We have built an incredible advisory team with over 25 years of combined experience in the maternal health and legal fields. And we have developed our signature leadership circle that is led by directly impacted individuals.

At RJI, we have been working tirelessly for years to ensure incarcerated individuals are afforded the right and the ability to deliver and parent their children with dignity. This includes the right to breastfeed or pump - a right that our correctional systems violate every day.

We know from sources like the World Health Organization and leading maternal health organizations that “breast is best.” And we know that given the high cost of infant formula, at-risk mothers and their children are being economically penalized when we violate and revoke the right to pump.

What began in late 2019 as an idea and a response to national breastfeeding awareness month – started our journey. We posted 1 image on social media, and we went viral – mommy groups, women’s groups all wanted to be involved -to donate – to share the word…By the end of August my office looked like breast pump depot. We knew we were on to something – we found our niche. But we also knew we had to address and overcome some big hurdles.

Our response was to create BOOB'R, to restore and strengthen the maternal thread.  We will be the first of its kind end-to-end service and solution for incarcerated women who want to express their breast milk. 

But there is more work to be done and we need your help –  Donate HERE

We will research and document the importance of, need for and support of breast pumping behind walls - contributing to much needed research and advocacy in this space. 

What we know, what we learn and what we do, has national legislative and advocacy implications. 

BOOB'R recognizes and supports breastfeeding as a human right for our incarcerated population.

BOOB’R will challenge and disrupt the stigma of breastfeeding for incarcerated populations and rewrite empowered narratives.

We are a service, we are a societal solution, we are a brand, and we are a movement.

BOOB’R - the next breast thing to ensure parenting with dignity.