Executive Director and General Counsel, Jamie Morris, discusses legislation that the MCC is following with Curtis Wichmer, Legislative Counsel and Dr. Guillermo Villa-Trueba, hispanic Outreach Manager

Missouri is now one of just 10 states in the country with a correctional nursery program. Before the program’s launch, incarcerated mothers were typically separated from their newborns within 24 to 48 hours after delivery. Infants were usually placed with relatives or sometimes were placed into the foster care system. This program offers a different path—one grounded in dignity, healing, and the belief in second chances.

MCC talks with Kim Perkins, nursery program manager at the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center (WERDCC) in Vandalia. Kim discusses the challenges and successes of the program.

The Missouri Catholic Conference’s Legislative Counsel, Curt Wichmer, recently met with Emmjolee Mendoza-Waters, Director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network’s (CMN) Death Penalty Abolition Program, on the MCC from the Capitol Podcast. Topics of discussion included an outline of CMN’s mission and various efforts to curb the prevalence of capital punishment in the United States, as well as how Missouri stands apart from virtually every other state in the country in its use of judicial override at death penalty sentencing trials.