Women, by nature, tend to be much more social than men. Women also have a unique struggle when first going into prison. When women are put in prison, they have multiple things that need to be dealt with right away. At the PGRCC, many females first getting to prison are often intoxicated from alcohol, and or are high from narcotics. When they start to come off of their high, and the withdrawal sets in, so does reality. They start questioning what happened, how they got there, and (if applicable) where their children are? Their maternal instincts start to kick in. With this problem of the children, the Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) gets involved. The ministry needs to talk to the woman in prison and try to find appropriate places …show more content…
Some women, however, are expecting mothers. So what exactly happens to these infants after birth, when their mothers are still incarcerated? In the past, the infant used to be taken right from the hospital, to a social worker who either brings the baby to another relative of the mothers, or in foster placements or group homes. However, a new program has recently been implemented in a Canadian prison. This type of program was first created and tested in American prisons. A program where a mother can keep her infant with her, behind bars, for a certain period of time. Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women allows for women inmates to keep their infants with them behind bars for up to 18 months (Brown, Valiente, 2014). There are strict rules for being able to apply, however, and to get into the program there. For example, women cannot be convicted of violent crimes, arson or crimes that involve any children (Brown, Valiente, 2014). Having a child in prison in the Bedford program costs up to $24,000 a year, which in the long run is cheaper than having a mother end up back in prison. It has been shown that women who keep their children with them during their jail time are less likely to end up back in jail. A study had shown that women who kept their infants with them in prison, had a 10 percent recidivism rate, compared to a 33 percent recidivism rate in those mothers who were separated from their children at birth (Brown, Valiente,
Thompson, P., & Harm, N. (2000). PARENTING FROM PRISON: Helping Children and Mothers. Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing , 61-81.
While most expectant mothers are planning for baby showers, shopping for maternity clothes and preparing the baby’s nursery, the incarcerated mother-to-be has to remain in a constant state of alertness and preparedness for situations that can put her and her unborn baby at risk, in an environment that is both intimidating and routinely violent. (Hutchinson et. al., 2008)
writers are ‘doubly marginal’, being female and a writer in prison whereas at the same time black women suffer threefold- as a woman, prisoner, and African American”(Willingham 57). Although both of these women are prisoners, one of them is viewed as prison writer and another women is viewed just as prisoner. Beside they being treated just by their race, even in an African American society, the perception of looking imprisoned men and women are different, African American women are subjected for gender difference. Willingham mentions the thought of a African American woman, “African American men are almost made martyrs and heroes when they come out of prison but when African American women go back to their communities, the are not only unfit people, they are also marked with the title of unfit mother, and it’s hard to trust us”
In 2007 there were approximately 77,200 fathers and 65,600 mothers incarcerated in the United States (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007). As our society continues to grow, our jail and prison population are growing as well. When a parent or guardian is taken into custody the juvenile (child) is taken and released to a relative or child protective services. The children are either given to a close family member or a surrogate parent, meaning a foster home. This may have an emotional impact on the juvenile involved, which may lead them to committing delinquent acts. The children sometimes feel they are left to fend for themselves emotionally and the stress of these emotions are left upon the guardian at the time. These intense sufferings sometimes leave the juveniles in a harmful mental state resembling depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and feelings of abandonment from their parents/guardians. Children with incarcerated parents are five times more likely than their peers to commit crimes (Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 2008).
For many prisons there facilities aren’t adequate for the pregnant women that are being held there. In a state survey it was found that less then 50% of facilities have written policies specifically relating to medical care for pregnant women and only 48% offer prenatal services. Only 21% offer prenatal counseling and 15% offer counseling to help mothers find suitable placements for their infants after birth. Women that are in the system do not receive regular pelvic exams or sonograms, that they receive little to no education about prenatal care and nutrition, that they have the inability to alter their diets to suit their changing caloric needs, and that they could be shackled during delivery and can not have labor support from family members. There are many reasons why pregnant women should have alternatives.
From the moment the prison system had to deal with pregnant inmates, the subject of prison nurseries became controversial and it remains as such to this day. Prison nurseries provide housing for inmates’ newborns and allow the inmates to co-reside with their infants for a limited amount of time, giving them the opportunity to be part of their development for at least the first months of their lives. Furthermore, these housing arrangements let them be their children’s primary caregiver (Byrne, Goshin, & Joestl, 2010). While there are groups that advocate and promote their existence, there is also a side that concerns itself with the security risks and liabilities that come with raising infants in a prison setting. Regrettably, these risks and liabilities fall on the infants all too often and by looking at the research, it will be clear that prison nurseries actually end up being more of a punishment for the children than rehabilitative help for the mother.
For many women, one of their primary roles relates to motherhood. This means that once a woman returns back to their family, she must take on the caregiver role again. However, the separation between women offenders and their children often strained family reunification. It was noted that such reunification could not take place without securing the custody of their children through stable housing and economic support. Many women face difficulties in their attempts to regain custody of their children as they cannot meet the criteria. This is due to the social stigma attached to being a prisoner which pull back women's capability towards gaining sustain employment in society to financially regain the custody to reintegrate with their children. These difficulties are exacerbated by the prevalence of mental and physical health issues within the female prison population. Once a woman is released from prison these health problems result in the difficulty towards securing housing, employment, and predicts reoffending.
This time together in prison aids with the early mother-child bonding which is paramount for the lifelong success of the child. It helps the mother be more maturing while reducing their recidivism rate, and because the mothers can raise their children in a safer environment compared to the streets with no assistance. The mother-child bond is a uniquely powerful bond that must be established for the ultimate well-being of the child. Through these means, allowing mothers to serve time with their babies in prison is a beneficial alternative than raising them on the cold, dangerous, and rough streets. In the end, what is best for the child must be the primary goal, and mothers know
According to a factsheet by The Sentencing Project (2012), more than 200,000 women are incarcerated, including those in local jails. In addition, out of these 200,000 women “1 in 25 women in state prisons and 1 in 33 in federal prisons are pregnant when admitted to prison.” Due to their sentencing, many of these women are forced to give birth while incarcerated. Then days later are separated from their newborn to finish their sentencing. More mothers end up in jails than fathers, and men do not have to worry about bringing their future child into a jail cell like many women do. Granted they may leave their family behind, including a pregnant wife, but they do not have to worry about the care of another human being inside of them while they are behind bars.
This reading was about how the significantly higher amounts of men in prison now creates somewhat of an afterthought for women in prison when discussing incarceration. It also provides the narrative from Olivia Hamilton, regarding issues only unique to women in prison such as: maternity rights, cross-gender supervision, and reproductive justice. Olivia gave birth to her first son while she was in prison serving a six-month sentence. During the birth, she claims that she was chained to an operating table and given a forced and medically unnecessary cesarean section. She then goes into detail about her life story starting with how her mom sent her to live with her grandmother when she was twelve years old. By the end of 2007, she had two kids
for youngsters who have a long history of convictions for less serious felonies for which the juvenile court disposition has not been effective” (qtd. in Katel).
As we all know females and males have always been very different from each other and being incarcerated makes no difference. They both have different ways of adjusting to prison and dealing with their new life. Laura E. Bedard (the first female Deputy Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections) said that one of her colleagues once summarized the difference between working with male and female inmates as follows: “When you tell a male inmate to tuck his
There have been many questions raised if the nurseries programs were fair but “the number of women incarcerated in state prisons in the United States (US) has dramatically increased in the past 20 years, and 70% of these women are the mothers of minor children, as of the last Bureau of Justice estimates” (Mumola, 2000). “Allowing women to parent their children within correctional facilities in the US may be “one of the most controversial debates surrounding the imprisonment of women” (Bel...
Prisons serve the same reason for women and men, they are also tools of social control. The imprisonment of women in the U.S. has always been a different experience then what men go through. The proportion of women in prison has always differed from that of men by a large amount. Women have traditionally been sent to prison for different reasons, and once in prison they endure different conditions of incarceration. Women incarcerated tend to need different needs for physical and mental health issues. When a mother is incarcerated it tends to play an impact on the children also. Over time the prison system has created different gender responsive programs to help with the different needs of female offenders. After being released from prison
Throughout this paper, one will obtain a better understanding of the correctional system and how it is an important aspect of the criminal justice system. Therefore, the history of corrections, their mission statement, and sentencing goals will be briefly discussed. In the correctional system, there are different alternatives to imprisonment, such as probation, parole, and intermediate sanctions. I believe that parole makes a significant impact on the criminal justice system because it gives inmates who have already served time and shown good behavior the opportunity to be released early from prison. For example, there are two primary models of parole. First, the parole board grants a prisoner their parole based on their judgement