Tuesday, May 13, 2025 | 12:00-1:00pm CT | Via Zoom

Minnesota passed the landmark Healthy Start Act (HSA) in 2021, allowing the state’s Commissioner of Corrections to conditionally release sentenced, pregnant and postpartum people into community-based alternatives for the duration of the pregnancy and up to one year postpartum.

This webinar will summarize a recent evaluation of HSA implementation, main findings, recommendations, and will feature a panel of individuals who will share their experiences with this policy, highlighting perspectives from researchers, Department of Corrections (DOC) staff, and individuals with lived experience.

Participants will learn about:

• Alternatives to incarceration for pregnant and postpartum people, specifically focusing on Minnesota’s Healthy Start Act
• High-level findings from an implementation evaluation of the Healthy Start Act
• Opportunities to better support pregnant, postpartum, and parenting people both in Minnesota and nationally
• Reflections from researchers, DOC staff, and individuals that have been directly impacted by this policy

Invited panelists include:

• Victoria Lopez is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist and has also completed her CPRS Forensic Endorsement training. She works at MN Prevention and Recovery Alliance, where she supports individuals who have been impacted by substance use; she is also currently working towards her degree in Psychology. Victoria’s experience being released through the Minnesota Healthy Start Act gives her a unique perspective on how to better support parents and families in our state. She hopes to continue to use both her lived and professional experience to continue making positive change in Minnesota and beyond.
• Lori Timlin has been the Parenting Coordinator at the MN Correctional Facility at Shakopee since 2011. She also co-facilitates the Healthy Start Conditional Release Program for pregnant and postpartum incarcerated women. Ms. Timlin has a degree in Criminal Justice from Bemidji State University, and has worked primarily in juvenile probation in a variety of counties since 1984. For six years she also worked in Domestic Relations in Ramsey County, providing custody and parenting time mediation and evaluation.
• Rebecca Shlafer, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota (UMN). Professor Shlafer is a developmental child psychologist with additional training in maternal and child public health. Her community-engaged research and teaching activities sit at the intersection of child development, public health, and the criminal legal system. Her team’s research partnership with the Minnesota Prison Doula was the impetus for the Healthy Start Act. In addition, she leads a multi-state study on enhanced perinatal programs in 8 state prisons.
• Ingie Osman, MPH, is a graduate of the UMN School of Public Health, where she received her MPH degree in Community Health Promotion. Ingie’s research interests have revolved around the impact that criminal legal system involvement has on individual and community health, and she aims to engage in community-based research in partnership with those directly impacted by the criminal legal system. Ingie currently works as a Project Director at the UMN, where she leads a variety of research and evaluation projects to support the health and wellbeing of children, families, and parents impacted by incarceration.

Free and open to all!

Evaluation Report: Minnesota’s Healthy Start Act

Recognizing the negative consequences of both experiencing pregnancy while incarcerated and separating incarcerated mothers from their newborns, Minnesota passed the landmark Healthy Start Act (HSA) in 2021, allowing the state’s Commissioner of Corrections to conditionally release sentenced, pregnant and postpartum people into community-based alternatives for the duration of the pregnancy and up to one year postpartum. This evaluation report (available 5/9/25) shares critical information about this first-of-its-kind policy, summarizing its implementation to-date, highlighting main findings, and sharing recommendations for stakeholders in Minnesota and beyond.