[2] It was the fifth prison in the United States, in modern times, to open a nursery for imprisoned mothers and their babies located within the institution.

In 1961, Clearview School opened at the prison and the Ohio Reformatory for Women became the first in the state to have an official Adult Education Program.

In the 1970s female death row inmates were on paper prisoners of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, but were placed in the hospital building second floor of ORW because of their gender.

In 2000, Governor Bob Taft signed a House Bill that permitted the Ohio Reformatory for Women to establish a residential nursery.

The following summer, under the Direction of Warden Deb Timmerman-Cooper, ORW opened up the only nursery program of its kind in the state.

The Achieving Baby Care Success (ABC) program at ORW makes it possible for pregnant offenders to keep custody of their newborns after they give birth.

[2] ORW employees have observed that mothers who have participated in and graduated from the ABC program are rarely repeat offenders.

The mother must attend family training courses with hands-on parenting instruction, maintain good mental and physical health, be serving a short term, and follow many other specific rules.

[4] The nursery program at ORW is housed in a separate wing of the establishment and contains double occupancy rooms for up to twenty mothers with their infants.