Prison Nurseries: A Pathway to Crime-Free Futures

Corrections Compendium, Spring 2009 by Carlson, Joseph R

As the population of Incarcerated women continues to rise, so too does the population of incarcerated pregnant women. The question for state governments is whether to continue the policy of removing new children from inmate mothers after birth, or to adopt a more progressive policy of allowing mothers to keep their babies while they are incarcerated. This article addresses the recent history of U.S. prison nurseries and discusses the current nursery program in the state of Nebraska, which is the second oldest operational program in the country.

Literature Review

Unlike numerous Western European, Asian, and South American countries, the U.S. does not usually allow women to keep their babies with them while incarcerated. (Caddie, 1998; Quaker United Nations Office, 2005).

In general, women in the U.S. who have babies while in prison are separated from them within a few days, and the baby is released to the custody of a family member or placed in foster care. Prison nursery programs are designed for nonviolent and short-term inmates who will give birth while incarcerated but will be released within 24 months or less after the birth. Women who will be incarcerated for longer periods of time or with histories of abusing children are ineligible to participate. Women within the programs are usually required to participate in parenting courses, take care of their own child and refrain from disruptive behavior that would result in receiving serious misconduct reports. In some cases, women are required to take classes to complete their GED or to work part time within the institution both before and after the baby is born. The overall goals of each program may differ, but most have the hope of reducing the Inmate mother's risk of recidivism by strengthening the bonding that occurs between the mother and child during the first 24 months of life. A woman is usually considered a successful program participant if she is able to remain in the program and leave the institution with her baby. Nursery programs are separate from child visitation programs, which allow older children to visit and in some cases remain overnight.

More than 1 12,000 women were imprisoned in state and federal correctional institutions throughout the U.S. at the start of 2007 (Harrison and Beck, 2007). There has been a continued increase of women who either are incarcerated just after having a child or who have a child while in prison. A 2004 survey titled Medical Problems of Prisoners (Maruschak, 2008) indicated that 4. 1 percent of female state inmates and 2.9 percent of federal inmates were pregnant at the time of confinement.

It has been the general opinion of female inmates that when they are released from prison they will be their children's primary caregiver (Crawford, 1990; Radosh, 2002). Separation from their newborn babies due to confinement compounds issues such as weakened attachment, bonding and abandonment for the children (Travis, Ctacotta and Solomon, 2003). Positive social interactions in a child's early years are considered critical to the development of healthy social relationships and personality growth (Rutter, 1995).

The most recent and only study on the level of attachment between mothers and babies while in prison was completed in the New York prison nursery system. Using the Atasworth Strange Situation Procedure, Byrne, Goshta and Joestl (in press) measured attachment for 17 children who had spent 12 months with their mothers in the nursery program. Results measured by the adult attachment interview indicated that in spite of the fact that the mothers of most of these children had not internalized secure attachment in their own childhoods, 71 percent of the babies achieved secure attachment with their own mothers while in the prison nursery setting. This is a greater percentage than reported by most low-risk community children whose mothers had no criminal history or involvement. This data is strong evidence that nursery programs promote bonding, which is one of the main goals of any nursery program.

For those babies given up to foster care, which averages 10 percent nationally (Snell and Morton, 1994), there becomes a drain on state and federal resources, not to mention future problems arising from the previously mentioned bonding issues. In 2007, a report by Children's Rights, National Foster Parent Association and the University of Maryland School of Social Work indicated that the average monthly foster care rates in 2007 ranged from a low of $226 in Nebraska to a high of $869 in the District of Columbia. The report concluded that "on average, across the U.S., current foster care rates must be raised by 36 percent in order to reach the Foster Care Minimum Adequate Rates for Children (MARC)."

One of the most recent debates on whether to establish a prison nursery was held in West Virginia in 2007 and reflected the feelings that prisons are for punishment. Comments published In the Charleston RegisterHerald included: "Our prisons today are too accommodating for prisoners" (Porterfleld, 2007). Possibly the largest opposition to women keeping their babies in prison is from those who believe prison is for punishment, not rehabilitation.