Sharing the Sentence: Separation Takes Toll on Incarcerated Moms and …

Myla Martinez, 6-year-old, enthusiastically greets her mother Crystal Martinez as she and her four younger siblings spend time her with her during a special visit at Logan Correctional Center, Saturday, May 20, 2023, in Lincoln, Illinois. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

LINCOLN, Ill. (AP) — Dressed in her Sunday best — pink ruffled sleeves and a rainbow tulle tutu — Crystal Martinez’s 4-year-old daughter proudly presents her with a multicolored bouquet of carefully crafted tissue paper flowers. With her 5-year-old son nestled on her lap, laughing in delight, Martinez holds out her arms and pulls the girl into a hug so tight that her glasses are knocked askew.

“I want you! I don’t want the flowers,” Martinez says , smiling and holding her children close.

Martinez’ five children, including the three aged 13, 10 and 6, last month traveled for three hours from Chicago to visit her in Logan Correctional, Illinois’ largest state prison for women and transgender people, on the…