Harrowing images reveal pain of convict mothers who give birth behind bars only to see their newborns taken away just hours later

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It was supposed to be a special moment when Laura Strange cradled her newborn daughter in her arms for the first time.

But instead of enjoying the happy arrival, the 25-year-old was preparing to say goodbye to the tiny infant.

At little over two hours old Haley, swaddled in a hospital blanket, was taken away from her mother and it could be two years before the pair are reunited.

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Little Haley is one of 340 babies born each year to mother’s serving sentences at Valley State Prison, in Chowchilla, California.

With on average 120 inmates pregnant each month only a handful of women are lucky enough to avoid separation from their infants.

Strange said: ‘I accept the consequence of my crime; I accept the fact that I broke the law. But what does that have to do with my child? 

Inmate Laura Strange was shackled to the hospital bed after giving birth to her second child

Eager to enjoy their last few moments together, the new mother quickly feeds the infant from a bottle of baby formula whispering: ‘Momma doesn’t want to send you away on an empty stomach.’

Gazing down at the shackles around her ankle that confine her to the hospital bed, Strange shakes her right foot. ‘My damn leg fell asleep again,’ she moans.

‘Giving her up was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

‘I hurt every second of the day for her.’ 

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