|
|
| Some Overnight Child Prison Visits to Be Banned |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 09/03/2001 |
|
Amid protests sparked by a convicted murderer's request her young son stay overnight with her in prison, Nebraska's governor on has ordered that the state no longer allow such visits with women serving long-term sentences. Gov. Mike Johanns directed state prison officials to overhaul a program started in 1974 that allows children under 8 to have overnight visits with their mothers in a special section of the prison. ``The policy will be revised so that if an inmate is sentenced to life or won't be free for many many years, if ever, the overnight prison privilege will no longer be available,'' Johanns told a news conference. Nebraska's prison policy allowing overnight visits for female inmates and their children generated an outcry when inmate Kimberly Faust recently took her former husband to court to demand he allow their 6-year-old son to spend the night with her in prison. Faust is serving a life prison term for killing her then-estranged husband's girlfriend and a stranger who tried to assist the girlfriend while she was being attacked. The former husband, Bruce Faust, has refused to allow the child to spend the night in prison, but has allowed daytime visits. A court is scheduled to hear the case on Sept. 13. Johanns, a Republican, said the program had been designed to assist women who would be incarcerated for a short time and would return to mothering their children when they were released. Inmates serving life terms or those whose sentences are long enough that their children will be grown when they are released would no longer qualify for the program, he said. Johanns said he had also instructed prison officials that he wished the policy revised so that no female inmate, including those serving even short sentences, would be granted overnight stays with their children if the custodial spouses objected to those visits. |
advertise
|
privacy policy
|
add URL
|
about us
|
terms/disclaimer
|
contact us
|
join our team
|
help
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think