Mother’s Day in prison is a particularly poignant holiday. Female inmates wait expectantly for visits from their children. For some women, the visit never materializes. For others, overcrowded visiting rooms are the scene of short, highly regulated visits between incarcerated mothers and their children. Presents made by children in school as a token of affection for their mothers in prison must be left at home. Hallmark does not make a card that conveys the anguish of missing a mother everyday of the year, or years. The day that is meant to honor mothers is often filled with silent tears, or loud sobbing as this almost sacred day begins and ends for mothers behind bars.
In order to better understand how children of incarcerated mothers are affected, Volunteers of America, in collaboration with Wilder Research interviewed more than 200 incarcerated women along with their children, and the children’s caregivers in 2009. The report was issued in 2010. Some of the information from the study is truly heartbreaking. All of the information can be used to better understand how women get caught up in the criminal justice system, and how their children become collateral consequences of that system. The next step is to correct the system that is destroying so many lives.
Although Reentry Central has reported on this issue in the past, the subject must continue to be examined, and the issues resolved. The following are highlights of Childhood Disrupted: Understanding the Features and Effects of Maternal Incarceration :
Between 1991 and 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported the number of mothers in federal and state prisons had increased a staggering 122 percent
During the same period, the number of children with mothers in prison had more than doubled, rising to almost 150,000 nationwide
91 percent of incarcerated mothers interviewed for the study suffered from a history of substance abuse
81 percent of children interviewed are expected to remain with their current caregiver even after their mothers are released
20 percent of these children say they are strongly ambivalent about their mother's release
Mothers who enter prison are more likely than fathers to be diagnosed with a mental illness. They are also more likely to be drug users, live in poverty, and to be victims of sexual abuse, factors that can contribute to their children experiencing their own emotional and psychological difficultie
Children of incarcerated mothers are also more likely to have witnessed their parents’ arrest and to experience significant trauma and household disruption as a result of that arrest
Most incarcerated mothers in the study expressed concern about their ability to support their children post-release, and had only vague plans concerning employment post-release
Presently there are only a handful of prisoner reentry programs in the U.S. that are specifically designed to support incarcerated mothers and their families
The study offers recommendations for consideration:
Programs that offer family group conferencing or family based planning can be beneficial for inmate and family to work through conflicting expectations for reentry and reunification
Because family structures are complicated programming should be flexible and adaptable
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