By Kelsey Harring
Since the age of mass incarceration in the 1990s, the number of women who have been sentenced to serve time in jails and prisons has increased by over 700 percent; seventy percent of incarcerated women have children under the age of eighteen and 1 out of every 10 is pregnant at any given time. It is now estimated that there are over five million children in our country who have become justice impacted as a result of one or both parents facing incarceration.
The United States holds one of the most punitive approaches to incarcerated women’s reproductive and maternal rights in the developed world; when a mother gives birth during her sentence, her baby is usually taken away from her within 24 to 48 hours. Ample research highlights the negative effects of separating an infant from his or her parent(s). In response to developmental issues faced by children in these situations, nine states in America have adopted “prison nurseries” following suit of many other countries. Some countries even have programs and policies that allow children to enter the correctional facility with their mother while she carries out her sentence. The United States is currently lacking in programs and policies to decrease harm to justice-impacted families; prison nurseries would spearhead progress by ensuring mothers and their new babies can build a secure bond while emphasizing the maternal rights of incarcerated women.
History of Children in Prison
The first prison nursery was opened in Bedford Hills, New York in 1901 and is still in operation today. Other programs opened up, but questions regarding the suitability of the prison environments on infant development caused a lot of these facilities to close down in the 1970s. There are nine states that have prison nursery programs, and each one is a bit different from the other in terms of duration, programs provided to the mothers, and the standards in which it dictates eligibility for the program. Generally, however, prison nurseries allow mothers to care for and spend time with their infant full-time while also providing daycare for infants while the mother performs her duties around the institution. For a more in-depth look at the differences between each state, visit chapter two of this article.
A big push for prison nurseries has come with issues from the court. When faced with sentencing, American judges almost never consider the implications of a parent’s sentence on their child. The gender disparities of incarceration also has an influence on the displacement of their child; when fathers are incarcerated, mothers become the caretaker of the children 90% of the time, whereas when mothers are incarcerated children stay with the father only 28% of the time highlighting that the lives of children are more likely to be disrupted when their mother is sentenced. As a result of laws’ impartiality of these implications and judge’s need to enforce laws and coexisting sentencing, prison systems are beginning to respond by recognizing prisoner rights and family rights. While prison nurseries cannot necessarily reconcile issues with children who have already been born, it at least gives a chance for those new lives that are born during their mother’s sentence.
Benefits for the Child
Most importantly, prison nursery programs give infants the opportunity to create a secure attachment bond with their mother by staying with her during a crucial developmental period. Infants who were never able to participate in the nursery program and separated after only a few days are almost never given the chance to form a secure attachment with any adult as a result of environmental risks and being away from their mom.
The importance of forming a secure attachment bond with their parent reflects in their personality, development, and temperament as an adult. Securely attached children turn into “resilient and competent adults” whereas children who develop insecure attachments are less likely to trust others and have confidence in the future. Additionally, research shows that attachment styles influence educational attainment later in life. Study after study shows that children who developed a secure attachment style performed better academically than children who had any other type of attachment style. If prison nurseries foster the opportunity for children to build a secure bond with their mother, then they will set on the path for success by having good relationships with others, being more likely to perform well in school, and many other benefits.
Benefits for the Mother
Above all, allowing a mother to raise her baby and build a relationship with them humanizes her. These women, despite the reasoning that has resulted in her incarceration, are humans and should be treated as such.
Research shows that women who participate in prison nursery programs have much lower rates of recidivism in comparison to the general female population (i.e. all other women who did not participate in the prison nursery program). This includes returning to incarceration as a result of parole violations. On the flip side, women who were separated from their infants prematurely actually had much higher rates of recidivism compared to the general female population. While I cannot say that the separation was casual of the recidivism, I think the correlation is worth thinking about. Our current incarceration system repetitively dehumanizes those involved; reproducing and having a child is one of the things that make us human and yet too many women are stripped of that right. By rehumanizing these women, their disposition on life is transformed and they are not only given training, but also a purpose to care for their child.
While participating in the program, mothers are provided parenting classes, mental health and substance abuse counseling, along with other classes and programs that provide these mothers the resources to be successful parents inside and outside the prison setting. The focus on rehabilitating these mothers and giving them a purpose has immense merit to it, as we need to remember that these women are much more than what is on their criminal record.
Criticisms
Two of the biggest arguments against prison nurseries is the idea that prisons are not suitable environments for children and that incarcerated mothers are unfit to care for their children. The environment can provide many stressors normal to the prison experience, such as random searches and tensions between the mothers in the program. However, after doing research into these programs, you will see that the units for the prison nursery do not look like the archetype prison setting you would imagine; instead they are colorful, stimulating, and ornate with donated toys, resembling much closer to daycare or nursery than a prison. While I think every mother should get the chance to participate in prison nurseries, our current political climate would never pass such policies. In order to quell the critics, nursery programs have strict standards that the women must meet in order to participate. They differ from state to state, usually requiring the mother to not have a violent criminal charge and having a release date within 12-18 month.
Moreover, many argue that having children in prison is actually in violation of the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment, as they are denied their freedom and liberty without any sort of trial. With this in mind, we need to consider what is best for the child given their circumstance, the living conditions they would have if they were taken away from their mother, and other possibly detrimental effects the child could face as a result of being taken away. Does a child under the age of two have the capacity to understand where they are as long as they are happy with their mother? Some may further argue that the child may face a social stigma as they grow older, but I would argue that in our current climate, the child may already face a stigma for having a parent with a criminal record. In my opinion, this way they will at least have a solid emotional foundation that will set them up for facing challenges such as these in the future.
I should also note that the current prison nursery programs are not perfect. The number of women admitted into the programs has decreased, likely due to lack of funding. Spacing is limited, yet there are oftentimes empty beds in the units. It is worthwhile to mention again the strict standards placed on entrance into the nursery programs, making most women ineligible. Many proponents of prison nurseries will agree that these programs need more funding and more focus on mental health and substance abuse treatment and reentry assistance in order to truly excel.
I want you to think about the ethics and implications of removing an infant from his/her mother after only being a day old and the long lasting implications this might have on the mother’s mental health. Who gets to decide which women are deserving of their humanity?
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