This added geographic separation may as well be a second sentence for these women, who already have to make it through prison with limited visits from family, and for their children, who still need and want their moms. A mother’s incarceration has a devastating effect on her family, and experts say that maintaining contact with a parent in prison is critical to a child’s well-being. One in 28 children has a parent in prison today, and Danbury houses the mothers of at least 700 children.

The Bureau of Prisons, which is part of the Justice Department, plans to send most women from Danbury to a prison in Alabama, and possibly to other ones farther afield. For many families these new locations might as well be the moon. The prison system also does not ensure that the women return home successfully or even safely. When I was released from a Chicago prison in March 2005 — I had been sent there on a writ to testify in court and to serve the remainder of my sentence — I was given $28 and a Windbreaker. I was unusually fortunate that my fiancé was able to come there to take me home to New York.

Despite distance, razor-wire fences and prison walls, many families of inmates fight to stay intact. The visiting room at Danbury was always filled with children doing their best to navigate their mother’s sentences with grace and dignity, even though the trek there could easily be eight hours each way for families with very limited resources. I watched one woman’s daughter grow from a cuddly baby to an adventurous toddler in weekly increments; the woman, a married mother of three, was there for a property crime, and her husband and children came every week for a few hours of invaluable family time. The setting was far from ideal, but anyone could see that every second was precious to her.

Arduous and costly as they could be, these visits were a necessity: they kept families connected to their incarcerated mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and fiancées, and kept prisoners connected to the outside world — one of the most important factors in determining whether they would return home successfully and go on to lead law-abiding lives. For this reason, 11 United States senators from the Northeast on Aug. 2 urged the Bureau of Prisons to reverse its decision on Danbury, saying that it was crucial to keep inmates close to home.

There is an alternative to moving prisoners far from their families. This past spring, an ambitious new program, JusticeHome, was started by the Women’s Prison Association in New York City, on whose board I serve. It aims to do the opposite of what the bureau plans: It will allow some women who plead guilty to felonies to remain in their homes with their children. The women will report regularly to court and will be visited several times weekly by case managers to make sure they receive supervision and guidance about jobs, education, their homes and children. The cost of JusticeHome, which is being paid by the city, will be about $15,000 per woman, far less than it would cost to incarcerate her for one year.