ALABAMA PRISON
BIRTH PROJECT

Holy Trinity has an active partnership with The Alabama Prison Birth Project (APBP), which is a non-profit organization serving the population of Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Ala. Their mission is to improve the health of newborns birthed by women in custody while strengthening maternal bonds and maternal self-efficacy. Services include individual doula support, group education and support, nutritious meals, ensuring mother’s milk delivery and re-entry support.

Holy Trinity has opportunities to support the mission of APBP in a variety of ways. On a monthly basis, we organize a group to prepare a nutritious lunch for the women attending the prenatal/postnatal support group at Tutwiler Prison, occasionally partnering with other Holy Trinity groups (e.g., the Men’s Group or EYC) in this mission. We connect with the mothers by regularly sending greeting cards and notes of support. We also aim to form stronger relationships with the doulas by supporting them with tokens of appreciation and regularly communicating to understand the program’s needs and barriers. In the past, Holy Trinity has provided financial support to APBP to help purchase videoconferencing equipment stations within the prison to facilitate support meetings when in-person contact isn’t possible, but also to allow mothers to virtually attend custody cases. Funding also has been provided to supplement a doula’s salary, provide re-entry support, and purchase items from the doula’s wish list such as handmade life-size weighted dolls in various skin colors to use with their education groups.

As the Alabama Prison Birth Project continues to grow its services into prisons, we will seek new ways to offer our skills, prayers and support along the way based on the project’s needs. An additional aim remains to organize discussions among our congregation to foster a better understanding of criminal justice issues and compassion for incarcerated individuals and their children. Currently we are exploring how compassion can inform our ministry work with the women at Tutwiler. The conversation has sprung from The Bible Project's Word Study for Compassion.

To learn more or become involved in this ministry, please reach out to Stephanie Ennis.