In Kentucky, the number of incarcerated women has nearly doubled since 2001, with roughly 2,200 women behind bars on any given day. While male inmates still outnumber them nearly 10 to 1, women are catching up, prison officials say, part of a national rise that experts attribute to more drug use, the legacy of mandatory minimum sentences and less judicial leniency toward women with children.

And more jailed women means more jailed mothers.

Nice clip, clip-on

Thanks, chestnut, I just usually clip the stuff they grabs my attention or tugs at my heart strings.

I'm afraid that I wouldn't make a very good judge or juror because given the opportunity, I would just say to let these women care for their child and end their jail terms. Kids need their mothers. Desperately. Maybe it's the bleeding heart inside of me, but I can't help feeling they need to be with their babies. I look at the faces of these women and I don't see criminals or junkies. Maybe I'm just a sucker.

I see loving mothers too.