lynsey addario, photographer

The Criminalization Mothers

Timmy Wayne Kimbrough, 54, holds up a family photo including his wife, Amanda, while hanging out at home with his daughter, Josie, 2, and his step daughters, Nicole, 13, and Brooke Borden, 10, in Russellville, Alabama, March 31, 2012. Timmy takes care of their daughter, Josie, while his wife, Amanda, serves time in the Colbert County Jail in Tuscumbia, where she is in prison for violating probation while out on bail for a chemical endangerment charge she received for doing meth while pregnant. There have been more than forty prosecutions of pregnant women and new mothers in Alabama since 2006, the year the chemical endangerment statute was passed into law. Originally created to protect children from being brought into or raised in homes housing potentially explosive meth labs, Alabama’s chemical endangerment law prohibits a “responsible person” from “exposing a child to an environment in which he or she…knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally causes or permits a child to be exposed to, to ingest or inhale, or to have contact with a controlled substance, chemical substance, or drug paraphernalia.”
   
Heather Capps, 25, poses with her 5 month old son, Malice, at the Halfway house in Albertville, Alabama, April 1, 2012. Heather Capps, a 25-year-old mother of three who was arrested in Marshall County, Alabama, on November 11, 2011, two days after giving birth via C-section to a healthy boy who tested positive for Oxycodone. Capps says that she became addicted to Oxycodone after it was prescribed to her to ease scoliosis pain. There have been more than forty prosecutions of pregnant women and new mothers in Alabama since 2006, the year the chemical endangerment statute was passed into law. Originally created to protect children from being brought into or raised in homes housing potentially explosive meth labs, Alabama’s chemical endangerment law prohibits a “responsible person” from “exposing a child to an environment in which he or she…knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally causes or permits a child to be exposed to, to ingest or inhale, or to have contact with a controlled substance, chemical substance, or drug paraphernalia.”
  
Heather Capps, 25, plays with her 5 month old son, Malice, at the Halfway house in Albertville, Alabama, April 1, 2012. Heather Capps, a 25-year-old mother of three who was arrested in Marshall County, Alabama, on November 11, 2011, two days after giving birth via C-section to a healthy boy who tested positive for Oxycodone. Capps says that she became addicted to Oxycodone after it was prescribed to her to ease scoliosis pain. There have been more than forty prosecutions of pregnant women and new mothers in Alabama since 2006, the year the chemical endangerment statute was passed into law. Originally created to protect children from being brought into or raised in homes housing potentially explosive meth labs, Alabama’s chemical endangerment law prohibits a “responsible person” from “exposing a child to an environment in which he or she…knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally causes or permits a child to be exposed to, to ingest or inhale, or to have contact with a controlled substance, chemical substance, or drug paraphernalia.”
     
  
A Celebrate Recovery service at a Baptist church in Albertville. The service is one of several treatment options offered to addicts during recovery.
   
Heather Capps, 25, reads the 'eight principles of recovery' during a Celebrate Recovery service. Capps was arrested on November 11, 2011, two days after giving birth via C-section to a healthy boy who tested positive for Oxycodone.
   
Recovering addicts attend a Celebrate Recovery service at a Baptist church in Albertville.
     
  
Mitch Floyd, a 42-year-old assistant district attorney from Albertville, also known as Meth Mountain, talks with recovering addicts at a halfway house in Albertville. Floyd has prosecuted close to 40 chemical endangerment cases, more than half of those involving newborn babies, since 2006, the year the chemical endangerment statute was passed into law.
   
The statue of The Protector is seen in front of the Tuscumbia Courthouse in Colbert County, Tuscumbia, Ala.
   
The Colbert County Courthouse in Tuscumbia at dusk, March 30, 2012. The statue of 'The Protector' in front of the Tuscumbia Courthouse in Tuscumbia, Alabama
     
  
Timmy Wayne Kimbrough, 54, is seen with his daughters in Russellville, Ala. Kimbrough's wife, Amanda, is serving time in the Colbert County Jail in Tuscumbia, where she is in prison for charges she received for doing meth while pregnant.
   
Timmy Wayne Kimbrough, 54, hangs out at home with his daughter, Josie, 2, and his step-daughter, Brooke Borden, 10, in Russellville.
   
Josie Kimbrough, 2, and her step-sisters, Nicole, 13, and Brooke Borden, 10, ride from home to the cemetery to visit the grave of their brother, Timmy Wayne Kimbrough, Jr., in Russellville, Alabama, March 31, 2012. Timmy and his wife, Amanda, gave birth to a stillborn son after Amanda was using Meth while pregnant. Timmy takes care of their daughter, Josie, while his wife, Amanda, serves time in the Colbert County Jail in Tuscumbia, where she is in prison for violating probation while out on bail for a chemical endangerment charge she received for doing meth while pregnant. There have been more than forty prosecutions of pregnant women and new mothers in Alabama since 2006, the year the chemical endangerment statute was passed into law.
     
  
Timmy Wayne Kimbrough, 54, visits the grave of his son, Timmy Wayne Kimbrough Jr., with his daughter, Josie, 2, and his step-daughters, Nicole, 13, and Brooke Borden, 10, in Russellville, Ala.
   
Timmy Wayne Kimbrough, 54, hangs out at home with his daughter, Josie, 2, and his step-daughters, Nicole, 13, and Brooke Borden, 10, in Russellville.
   
The town of Tuscumbia, Ala. is seen at dusk.
     
  
A sign is seen outside of a church in Russellville, Ala.