By Children of Prisoners Support Group
The number of women in NSW prisons has increased from 133 in 1982 to 362 in 1993. Even though there has been a steady increase in the number of women imprisoned, they will remain a minority group within the prison system. As is common with any minority group within a large institutional structure, their specific and special needs often go unnoticed or unaddressed.
Mother prisoners often remain a non-identified group. In our organisation's experience, few people have thought about the fact that there are mothers incarcerated, often mothers that have been the sole carers of their children before imprisonment.
There are no official statistics on the number of women in prison who have children or what happens to these children after their parent's imprisonment. The prisoner mother loses her identity as a mother when she is imprisoned. She is separated from her children, suffers the loss of fulfilling her role as a primary carer and is re-identified as a prisoner.
The redefinition of a woman's role and responsibilities and the manner in which the world around her perceives and relates to her compounds the feeling of guilt and alienation that many mothers experience when imprisoned.
The Children of Imprisoned Parents Report 1982 estimates that at least half the women in prison are mothers. As well as having to deal with the day to day life of being a prisoner, they often experience real grounds for concern about their children's material well-being. Many of these children are being cared for by friends or relatives. Others are in foster homes or have been made wards. Only a few (unlike the children of male prisoners) are in the care of co-parents.
The incarceration of mothers results in mother and child being unable to maintain spontaneous or immediate contact. Mother prisoners cannot respond to the daily needs of their children. They cannot attend their child's/children's school or social functions or even pick up a phone when they feel the need to have contact with their children.
For an incarcerated mother to attend a meeting concerning the care and welfare of their child, they must gain special permission from the Department of Corrective Services. Mothers in prison are reliant on professionals, relatives or friends to enable them to have contact and/or information regarding their children.
A child under the age of 18 cannot visit a prison without an adult. This, combined with the need for a sympathetic adult to assist with transporting the child to and from the prison decreases the chances of mother and child maintaining their relationship.
Once the child is able to visit the prison, regular and "child focused" contact is extremely important. In the experience of our organisation, the majority of women prisoners return to care for their children upon release; it is therefore not only inadvisable but irrational to inhibit or restrict contact between mother and child. Mulawa Training and Detention Centre holds children's visiting days (for children under the age of 16years) once per month. This type of visiting gives a valuable opportunity for mother and child to spend time and play together.
Mothers in prison are in need of special attention. Attention needs to be paid to the specific problems and needs arising from the separation between child and mother. When a woman gives birth while incarcerated in NSW,; she can only stay at the hospital with her baby for a few days then she is returned to the prison. This system allows little if any recognition of the need for mother-child bonding or the grief process experienced when a mother is forcibly separated from her newborn child.
Eligible women can apply for a section 29, which enables women to serve their sentence in the community if it is in the best interest of the child. The process of approval for a section 29 is often lengthy, and not all women are eligible under the guidelines.
A criminal record is not synonymous with an inability to parent. A mother prisoner's ability to care for her child is as restricted as the system that she is imprisoned in. "As long as there are such limited facilities for rehabilitation and counselling for the mother in prison and such unsatisfactory visiting conditions, the mother will remain seriously disadvantaged" (Women in Prison Report).
[Reprinted from the newsletter of the Children of Prisoners Support Group Co-op Ltd, PO Box 67, Ermington NSW 2115.]