Mothers could keep babies with them in prison

Here's an AP story that I really don't know what to think about.

West Virginia wants to become the sixth state to allow women prison inmates to have their babies with them for up to 18 months. Okay, I can see how this can be good for the prisoner. But what about the baby? Everything in this article talks about how good it is for the mother. It seems to me the baby would be cut off from family and anything like a normal life for the first 18 months of its life. It would barely know its grandparents, uncles, aunts, siblings or anyone other than the people coming in and out of prison.

I would like someone to explain how this would be good for the baby -- not the mother, not the state -- before I could endorse something like this. I would like to endorse the idea, but for the sake of the baby, I just can't right now.

Someone tell me where I'm wrong.

UDPATE: I just got off the phone with Jim Rubenstein, commissioner of the state Department of Corrections. He said the state prison system has two pregnant inmates now. The number varies and is unpredictable.

The women who would be eligible for the program are those who would not be a danger to their babies and who could be eligible for parole before the 18 months are up. At the Lakin women's prison, they would be on prison grounds, but they would also be in a house away from the general prison population. They would receive parenting classes, and family members could visit them and the babies separately from visitation for the general prison population.

It's his opinion that it could be better for the baby to bond with its mother by living with her for several months.