Several years ago, the late author Erma Bombeck wrote an article on Mother’s Day. What made this article so unique was that Bombeck asked her readers to remember mothers of incarcerated children. The topic of mothers of incarcerated children has rarely been broached, a fact Kaitlin Nicole Kall discovered when she decided to write about the subject for her senior thesis at Wesleyan University located in Middletown, Connecticut.
While researching her topic, Kall discovered Prison Talk Online, which describes itself as an “…Online web community (that) was conceived in a prison cell, designed in a halfway house, and funded by donations from families of ex-offenders, to bring those with an interest in the prisoner support community a forum in which their issues and concerns may be addressed by others in similar circumstances and beliefs.” PTO has a forum that includes a section for parents of incarcerated children. It was here that Kall placed a notice stating that she would like to interview mothers whose children were incarcerated. From the information she obtained from these women, Kall began to write her thesis.
The thesis, Mothers of Inmates: “Always Being There” in an Era of Mass Incarceration begins with a brief history of modern incarceration practices in the U.S., and the past and present conception of American motherhood.
Kall goes on to show the collateral cost of “always being there,” a term used to describe a mother’s sense of duty to her children. The “children” Kall refers to are often adults. The criminal justice puts an emotional, physical and financial burden on mothers as they try to stay connected with their incarcerated child, claims Kall
The topic of “mother blame” is discussed in the third and final chapter of Kall’s thesis. Society labels mothers as “good” and “bad.” Most often a mother of an incarcerated child is designated in the later category, claims Kall. Poor mothering skills are often unjustly attributed to the underlying cause of a person committing a crime. Sometimes the mother herself is the harshest critic in the blame game.
Maternal love doesn’t diminish when a child is arrested. Most often it is the offender’s mother who remains his or her staunchest supporter throughout the harrowing trip through the criminal justice system. Kall uncovers the emotional and financial difficulties these mothers face, bringing this long neglected topic to light. To view the full report click here to go to website
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