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Babies behind bars
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Indiana Women’s Prison debuted a new program last month that allows up to 10 imprisoned mothers to keep their newborns with them for up to 18 months. While some New York prisons have had nurseries for more than a century, only a few others states–Washington, Ohio, California, and Nebraska–have launched similar programs in recent years.
The programs come at a time when the nation’s female inmate population is rising.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics shows the number of women in prisons and jails jumped from more than 163,000 in 2000 to nearly 210,000 in mid-2006, fueled largely by an increase in drug convictions that carry mandatory sentences.
Many of those inmates are mothers who experts say benefit from staying with their children, even if it’s behind bars.
The Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, whose nursery program Indiana modeled, has seen 14 of its 128 participants re-offend, an 11 percent recidivism rate compared with the institution’s rate among all inmates of about 30 percent, spokeswoman Elizabeth Wright said. New York also has seen a dropoff, said Linda Foglia, spokeswoman for that state’s Department of Correctional Services.
While some critics worry that the program punishes the babies, studies show that the children benefit from the contact, too. “We hope that we’ll continue to make the family the unit that it should be,” said prison superintendent Zettie Cotton, ”and strengthen those that are going back out into the community.”
What’s your take on “babies behind bars“ programs?
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Soul searching
If most of these woman are drug offenders, then should we be asking these questions:
Although it might be good for the mothers to be close to their babies, is it good for the babies? Drug addicts don’t usually make good parents.
Should we really be re-examing our drug laws that put these women in prison in the first place?
Where would the babies be without this program? Probably worse off, plus the mothers get parenting classes. Sounds like a good program to me.
Kyle, what do you mean by this: “Should we really be re-examing our drug laws that put these women in prison in the first place?”
Are you suggesting that we not put women in jail simply because they are women?
If anything, the babies are more protected in the prison because, in theory, there are no drugs there and they have an opportunity to get clean and learn to take care of their child. Where would these kids be if their drug addict mothers weren’t in prison?
If the women really are getting rehabilitated, and if they really are becoming good parents, then it is a good program.
What about the babies whose mothers get back into trouble after they are realeased, as the article indicates some still do?
NJ Lawyer, no, I’m suggesting that locking people up in prison for using drugs doesn’t make that much sense. Let’s put the chidlren into good homes and let’s treat the mothers, if they want to be treated.
The babies are more protected in prison? No, they would be more protected in a loving, responsible home. The theory that the women don’t get drugs in prsion is nice. If it makes you feel better, keep believing it.
Forgive the cynicism but in a country where a greater percentage of its people are in jail than anywhere else in the world then why not? Its a natural extension of the growth of the US prison system.
HRW,
The US has more people in jail because of minor drug convictions the rest pf the world will not prosecute but also many parts of the world the jails are empty because they just kill people instead.
Communist countries have folks in jail but no one knows how many for sure are incarcerated. We didn’t know for sure about Russia but after the Berlin wall came down we knew that both East Germany and Russia imprisoned millions over the years that were no where reported. No one knows about Cuba China or N Korea but the numbers are high except in n Korea where million die of starvation and they do not have to be in jail.
Socialists have no reason to be proud of anything with their poor record of poverty, imprisonment, starvation and death due to odd capital punishment laws.
But, I am sure that you would not want to live anywhere else, out of personal fear, but here - even though the world’s ills are all supposedly caused by us.
At the ages discussed - under 18 months - all of my children were also behind bars. Of course we called their cells “cribs” or “playpens”.
Kyle, I meant “more protected” if with their mother in prison as opposed to being less protected living with an active drug addict on the outside. Of course, a loving home is better, but if mom can get her act together while in prison, why not give her something to get her act together for. If she falls off the wagon outside, it’s time enough to separate her from the child. That bonding experience may be what she needs to go straight. It is easily determined in prison if someone is on drugs, so the child could easily be removed. It ain’t perfect.
Llama, HRW is Canadian. That’s the problem there.
NJ Lawyer, that makes sense. I just wish that it could be done in a treatment facility rather than in an actual prison. Even though the babies don’t really know what’s going on, it still seems like a strange place for them to live.
Couldn’t they stay with a foster family near the prison who can be paid to bring the children to visit the mothers, or the mothers could be permitted supervised visits at the foster family’s home.
Sad that many of these women have no family member who can take care of their babies while they are locked up!
llama
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You can debate the reasons but the US is the world’s leading jailer. Prior to the end of the Soviet Union, the Soviets did lead in this category with good competition from apartheid South Africa. Execution happy China is far below America’s rates so even taking this in account they don’t approach America’s rate. Some dissidents claim an incarcenation rate equal to America. Right now America has 25% of the prison population and 5% of the world’s population.
Given the above, a family prison complex seems like an appropriate next step.