Roberta Bell was an eight–year employee at the Louisiana Transition Center for Women, a privately–run educational and training corrections facility in Tallulah, Louisiana, for inmates within one year of being released. Her life was about to change because of her faith and willingness to be a good Samaritan.

Katie Bourgeois had been incarcerated (for drug use while on parole) for a few months in that facility in 2023 when she discovered she was pregnant. If she went full term with her baby, he would be born about two months before Katie was due to be released. She desperately wanted to keep her baby, but she had no family or friends that could, or would, keep the baby for those first couple of months. There seemed to be no alternative but to see her baby become a ward of the state.

When talking with other inmates about her situation, several of them mentioned that Roberta Bell, one of the corrections officers, was known to love babies and might be able to help. One of Katie’s friends explained her situation to Roberta. Roberta approached Katie and offered to help. She told Katie she was willing to take the baby for those two months. She later said, “I knew that God wanted me to follow my heart, and I knew I couldn’t allow a baby to go to protective services when Katie really wanted that child.”

Roberta knew that the people in charge of the facility would probably not allow this to happen because of rules that prohibited sharing personal contact information with inmates, Nonetheless, Roberta felt she had to try. When told there was no way this could be allowed, Roberta said she was going to do it because it was the right thing to do. She was terminated from her employment immediately.

True to her word, she came to the hospital and took baby Kayson home with her. Two months later, when she was released, Roberta also invited Katie to live with her until she got a job and was able to live on her own with her baby.

Roberta found other employment. She said her dream is to start a group home for women who have recently been released from prison and have no place to go. Bourgeois said she would help.