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Mothers Behind Bars: Incarcerating Increasing Numbers of Mothers Has Serious Implications for Families and Society

NCJ Number
176010
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 60 Issue: 7 Dated: December 1998 Pages: 90-94
Author(s)
P Dressel; J Porterfield; S K Barnhill
Date Published
1998
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article examines the policy implications and costs of incarcerating mothers.
Abstract
The article describes the magnitude and characteristics of the issue of mothers' incarceration; details the human and social costs of present policy and practice that operate within a "family separation paradigm"; and proposes an alternative and less costly paradigm that puts the goal of family success at the heart of its concern. The family separation paradigm begins with sentencing, when mothers are removed from their children, who are turned over to substitute caregivers. Family separation is also promoted by a lack of respect on the part of some prison administrators for the primacy mothers accord to their parenting roles. Permission for family visits is used as a behavioral control mechanism in many prisons. In addition, women in prison receive insufficient preparation for returning to a self-sufficient life upon release, making recidivism and repeat family separation more likely. Under the family success paradigm, relatives would be paid at least as much as nonrelative foster parents for child-care provisions, human service systems would be located closer to neighborhoods, and parents would be assured a living wage so they could meet the basic material needs of their children and families. Notes, references