Author: Kingi, Venezia
Title: Mothers with Babies in Prison: Some Women Prisoners' Perspectives
Summary: The Department of Corrections Policy, Strategy and Research Group commissioned researchers at the Crime and Justice Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington to obtain the perspectives of some women prisoners about topics related to proposed legislation to extend the length of time to 24 months that mothers can care for their babies in prison. The specific objectives of the research were: • to ascertain female prisoners’ family structures and child care arrangements prior to imprisonment; • to ascertain child care arrangements made while in prison, how stable they are and how comfortable mothers are with them; • to understand mothers’ views on the appropriateness and desirability of having their children with them in prison, and whether they would apply for such access; • to identify the education, parenting and rehabilitation needs of female prisoners; • to ascertain female prisoners’ willingness and motivation to enter into parenting agreements, including the obligation to participate in parenting education; • to ascertain female prisoners’ willingness to relocate to a prison that has mothers with babies facilities; and • to ascertain the re-integration support needs of female prisoners with children when they leave prison. The research used a survey of 258 women prisoners and in-depth interviews with 10 women prisoners during May-June 2008 to obtain information relating to the research objectives. The overall findings indicate that nearly six in ten women prisoners surveyed support the proposal to extend the length of time that mothers can care for their babies in prison and half of those with dependent children would take up the option. All of the 258 women prisoners surveyed were asked whether they thought it was a good idea for mothers to be able to have children aged less than 24 months live with them in prison. Nearly six out of ten (59%) agreed it was a good idea, 32 percent did not, and nine percent responded that they did not know. Those who were most likely to agree were: • women prisoners aged 15-19 years (84%). This was true for both Māori and Non-Māori women prisoners aged 15-19 years (81% and 100% (or three out of three) respectively); • Asian women prisoners (100% or five out of five); • women prisoners with a dependent child aged two years or younger (64%); • women prisoners who had previously been in prison (65%); and • women prisoners who thought it was neither important nor unimportant that the prison in which they were incarcerated was near to their family/whānau (75%). Women prisoners who had been the main caregiver prior to coming into prison were slightly less likely to think it was a good idea (54%). Seventy seven percent of those opposing an extension to the current policy simply reasoned that ‘Children should not be brought up in prison.’ The next most common reason given by 60 percent of these women for being opposed to a possible change of policy was that ‘It would be too painful for mothers serving long sentences to have to give up their children when they got too old to be in the unit.’ Thirdly, 43 percent of these women were of the opinion that ‘Children should be with their family/whānau if their mothers are in prison.’ All the women interviewed in-depth supported the concept of mothers being able to care for their babies in prison. However, their opinions were divided about the upper age limit of the child. These women thought that the quality of the care that could be provided by a mother to her baby in prison needed to be balanced against the difficulty of separating from the baby (if the length of the prison sentence made that necessary) and the quality of the care that baby could receive on the outside. The advantages of an extension of the upper age limit to 24 months articulated by these women interviewed in-depth were variations around the theme of enabling more unbroken mother/baby bonding and breast feeding time. For mothers serving shorter prison sentences an extension of the current policy increased the chances of them being able to provide uninterrupted care for their babies. The views of Māori women prisoners surveyed on the desirability and implementation of this policy were similar to women prisoners as a whole. Nearly half (49%) of women prisoners with dependent children would apply to have a child under 24 months live with them in prison. The percentage increased slightly to 54% for women prisoners with a child aged two years or younger at the time of the survey. Māori women prisoners were also slightly more likely to hold this view (52%). The women (including Māori women) were slightly more likely to choose having their children live with them in a Mothers and Babies Unit regardless of whether that unit was close to their family/whānau. Most commonly women would be willing to undertake parenting programmes (77%). child development education (72%) or relationship skills (71%) programmes if these were made a condition of having a child live with them in prison. Overall, over nine in ten all the women prisoners thought that they would benefit from taking part in programmes while in prison. Those programmes most often mentioned were budgeting, drug and alcohol, relationship skills, parenting, child development education, anger management and family violence prevention programmes. Women’s views about the reintegration of mothers into the community on their release indicated that most mothers need support with housing (81%) parenting (77%), employment (73%) and childcare (69%). In extending the proposed policy to 24 months, the following factors may need to be taken into account: • the difficulty of separation from an older child; • the suitability of the prison environment generally; • ongoing financial considerations for women and their families; • safety of the prison environment for toddlers; • access to health care for babies/toddlers at all times, including during the night; • access to child care facilities to support the educational, social and physical development of these children; and • the establishment of dedicated facilities for mothers and babies/toddlers.
Details: Wellington, NZ: Crime and Justice Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008. 56p.
Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 13, 2012 at: www.corrections.govt.nz
Year: 2008
Country: New Zealand
URL:
Shelf Number: 123597
Keywords:
Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale Inmates (New Zealand) |
