Female Incarceration In Prisons

Do we as a society have the right to deny a mother the opportunity to care for her child, even if that mother is a convicted felon? As society continues to grow and change these are important questions to ask. According to statistics today, “Female incarceration is growing at a rate far outpacing the growth in male incarceration” (Schubert, Duininck, and Shlafer 2016). With the emergence of a more prominent female prisoner population there are different factors to consider. Including the fact that it is still expected, based on gender roles and dynamics for mothers to be the primary caregivers of their children (Schubert et al. 2016). Keeping this in mind, there is a need for female prisoners with children to have options to interact with
In particular, one study found that specifically children with incarcerated mothers compared to those without, are more likely to be convicted of a crime in adult hood (Schubert et al. 2016). In response to these factors there have been programs implemented in some prisons such as extended visiting programs in prison and programs that allow parenting while incarcerated. Programs that allow for mothering in prison aim to offer new alternatives for families who get split apart as a result of incarceration. This paper will utilize the article “Motherhood as Punishment: The Case of Parenting in Prison” as a way to analyze a fairly new program called Visions that promises to offer mothers in prison a way to be in their children’s life while their incarcerated, but instead becomes a social system that utilizes motherhood as a tool for
As the author states in the article, “inmates could not be trusted to wield authority” (Haney 2013: 114). Children in this facility grow up recognizing that their mothers are not in control and that they answer to a higher power, the staff. The article gave several examples where a child would misbehave or lie in order to get their mother in trouble and get what they want. Also, the program has strict rules about what constituted as proper punishment for a negative behavior, “spanking was strictly forbidden” (Haney 2013). This was not the only aspect of parenting they controlled but they also constantly monitored a mother’s actions and sayings, attempting to regulate or filter what they felt was unacceptable. Therefore, even though mothers were promised to reside in a facility where they could continue to mother their children, it was quite the contrary, they barley had control over their own lives much less their children. When comparing this aspect of the program to the extended visiting program mentioned earlier, it would seem that a mother would get more freedom in the extended visiting program. The extended visiting program allows for guards to not be brooding over all the woman’s actions and sayings. In contrast, Visions, is