Prison Nursery Program Research Paper

Prison Nursery Programs: A Growing Trend
Dennese Edwards

December 18, 2009

Prison Nursery Programs: A Growing Trend In recent years, the percentage of women incarcerated has risen steadily and of that percentage a good portion include pregnant women in various stages of pregnancy. As a result, state governments faced the decision to either keep enforcing the law that removes newborns from inmate mothers after birth, or develop and implement a policy permitting mothers to remain with their babies during their incarceration. To accommodate this rising trend, prison nursery programs were created to permit departments of correction to successfully get involved in the lives of both incarcerated mothers and their infant children. This
As mentioned previously, this program was designed to allow incarcerated women to keep their infants with them in prison for a limited period of time – particularly the first months of the infant’s life (Women’s Prison Association [WPA], 2009, p. 1). In the United States, generally after an inmate gives birth, the baby is separated from it mother and is released to the care of a family member or placed in foster care. However, inmates who are enrolled in a prison nursery program are inmates who have nonviolent and have short-term sentences – women who are scheduled to be released 24 months or less after the birth of their child. Women whose sentences are longer or have a history of child abuse are ineligible to participate. While incarcerated, some programs require the mother to complete her GED, take parenting classes, and be assigned to a part-time job within the institution. Although the program is growing, prison nurseries are still rare and have not been yet implemented in many states. Researchers have discovered that the program provides service to this group of women and infants whom if part of society would have been overlooked. In addition, since this is a still fairly new trend, there remains a significant gap between predominant correctional policy in this area and what is known about parenting and infant development (Smith Goshin & Woods
Prison Nursery management would like to invest in community-based alternatives, in order to permit the strengthening of mother/child bonding, and help the women to open up and deal with the problems that played a role in bringing them the criminal justice system originally. The program also seeks to recognize and monitor closely the development and changes that occur in the mother/infant attachment process and in the infant/toddler development during incarceration in a prison nursery and also during the years when the infant re-enters but is no longer with the mother. Assessments about which prison and community-based parenting programs should be created and tested are based on the type of attachment observed between the infant and his mother while in the prison nursery and maintained after the inmate is released back into society. From the decision made, the programs will not only improve the relationship of incarcerated women and their children while incarcerated, but also allow for a smooth transition following release. Another goal of prison nursery programs is ensure that that raising an infant in the prison nursery can prevent re-entry to prison after release or lead to short-range criminal recidivism of the