Article Image and Credit(s): Myla Martinez, 6-year-old, enthusiastically greets her mother Crystal Martinez as she and her four younger siblings spend time with her during a special visit at Logan Correctional Center, Saturday, May 20, 2023, in Lincoln, Illinois. Rare programs like the Reunification Ride, a donation-dependent initiative that buses prisoners’ family members from Chicago to Illinois’ largest women’s prison every month so they can spend time with their mothers and grandmothers, are a crucial lifeline for families, prisoners say. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
![Associated PressLogo](https://i0.wp.com/ndexnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Associated-Press.jpg?resize=50%2C45&ssl=1)
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 Reunification Ride. The donation-dependent initiative buses prisoners’ family members 180 miles (290 km) from the city to Logan every month so they can spend time with their mothers and grandmothers.
For more on this story, please visit AP.com.