A large proportion--and in many jurisdictions the majority--of incarcerated women are mothers. Popular attention is often paid to challenges faced by children of incarcerated mothers while incarcerated women themselves often do not "count" as mothers in mainstream discourse. This is the first anthology on incarcerated mothers' experiences that is primarily based on and reflects the Canadian context. It is also trans- national in scope as it covers related issues from other countries around the world. These essays examine connections between mothering and incarceration, from analysis of the justice system and policies, criminalization of motherhood, to understanding experiences of mothers in prisons as presented in their own voices. They highlight structures and processes which shape and ascribe incarcerated woman's identity as a mother, juxtaposing it with scripted and imposed mainstream norms of a "good" or "real" mother. Moreover, these essays identify and track emergence of mothers' resistance and agency within and in spite of the confines of their circumstances.

This Brief focuses on children with incarcerated mothers, a growing and vulnerable population. It presents five empirical studies, along with an introduction and summary chapter. The five empirical chapters examine new qualitative and quantitative data on: Typical occurrences when pregnant women give birth during incarceration in contrast with the benefits of a prison doula program for mothers and newborns. A mother’s criminal justice involvement for substance abuse crimes and its effects on children’s protective services involvement and foster care placement. How children cope with separation from their mothers because of their incarceration and how that separation continues to affect children's lives following family reunification. Differences in recidivism trajectories between mothers and nonmothers during the 10 years following release from incarceration. Alternatives to incarceration for women in residential drug treatment and how community supervision mandates can affect, contribute to, or extend mother-child separation. The final chapter integrates the information from the empirical studies and summarizes implications for policy and practice. Children with Incarcerated Mothers is an essential resource for policy makers and related professionals, graduate students, and researchers in child and school psychology, family studies, public health, social work, law/criminal justice, and sociology.

"Striking, original, and stimulating. Even readers with extensive familiarity of the literature regarding women in prison will learn something new."--Mona Danner, PhD Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice

Several years ago, Terry Moore, a young first offender at the Florida Correctional Institution for Women, gave birth to a baby whose father was a prison guard. Mrs. Moore won the right to have her baby stay with her in prison until she was released a few months later. Although this incarcerated mother was reunited with her child shortly after giving birth, many inmate mothers are not able to be with or see their children on a regular basis during incarceration. Little is known about this significant and emotionally traumatic problem that confronts nearly two-thirds of incarcerated women. Building upon previous work, this extraordinarily insightful volume offers fresh perspective on issues which surround the separation of inmate mothers and their children, using questionnaire, standardized scales, and individual taped interviews. The author examines issues such as the impact of separation by race; the child's whereabouts at the time of the crime; the child's placement and legal custody during the mother's incarceration; inmate mothers' interest in resuming the parental role after release; child-rearing attitudes of inmate mothers; and the effects of the involvement of drugs on the mothers' relationship with their children. Through interviews with administrators, staff, and inmates, Dr. Baunach provides a detailed, descriptive analysis of the development and operations of programs to retain mother-child bonds in women's prisons in a variety of states. Dr. Baunach discusses day-long/overnight/weekend visitations, foster care placements, and similar problems of the sort that mothers in prison uniquely must face. The work also has a strong policy content, providing unique and practical recommendations for policies and programs benefiting inmate mothers and children that at the same time can be implemented within the framework of current penological practices.

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In 1974, women imprisoned at New York’s maximum-security prison at Bedford Hills staged what is known as the August Rebellion. Protesting the brutal beating of a fellow prisoner, the women fought off guards, holding seven of them hostage, and took over sections of the prison. While many have heard of the 1971 Attica prison uprising, the August Rebellion remains relatively unknown even in activist circles. Resistance Behind Bars is determined to challenge and change such oversights. As it examines daily struggles against appalling prison conditions and injustices, Resistance documents both collective organizing and individual resistance among women incarcerated in the U.S. Emphasizing women’s agency in resisting the conditions of their confinement through forming peer education groups, clandestinely arranging ways for children to visit mothers in distant prisons and raising public awareness about their lives, Resistance seeks to spark further discussion and research into the lives of incarcerated women and galvanize much-needed outside support for their struggles. This updated and revised edition of the 2009 PASS Award winning book includes a new chapter about transgender, transsexual, intersex, and gender-variant people in prison.

In this volume, prominent scholars from multiple disciplines examine how parental incarceration affects children and what can be done to help them. In the United States today, roughly 1 in 25 children has a parent behind bars. This insightful volume provides an authoritative, multidisciplinary analysis of how parental incarceration affects children and what can be done to help them. Contributors to this book bring a wide array of tools for studying the children of incarcerated adults. Sociologists and demographers apply sophisticated techniques for conducting descriptive and causal analyses, with a strong focus on social inequality. Developmental psychologists and family scientists explore how proximal processes, such as parent-child relationships and micro-level family interactions, may mediate or moderate the consequences of parental incarceration. Criminologists offer important insights into the consequences of parental criminality and incarceration. And practitioners who design and evaluate interventions review a variety of programs targeting parents, children, the criminal justice system, and the plight of poor children more broadly. Given the vast implications of mass incarceration for individual children and their families, as well as the future of inequality in the United States, this book will serve as a definitive resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

The story of the rise of prisons and development of prison systems in the United States has been studied extensively in scholarship, but the experiences of female inmates in these institutions have not received the same attention. Historically, women incarcerated in prison, jails, and reformatories accounted for a small number of inmates across the United States. Early on, they were often held in prisons alongside men and faced neglect, exploitation, and poor living conditions. Various attempts to reform them, ranging from moral instruction and education to domestic training, faced opposition at times from state officials, prison employees, and even male prison reformers. Due to the consistent small populations and relative neglect the women often faced, their experiences in prison have been understudied. This collection of essays seeks to recapture the perspective on women’s prison experience from a range of viewpoints. This edited collection will explore the challenges women faced as inmates, their efforts to exert agency or control over their lives and bodies, how issues of race and social class influenced experiences, and how their experiences differed from that of male inmates. Contributions extend from the early nineteenth century into the twenty-first century to provide an opportunity to examine change over time with regards to female imprisonment. Furthermore, the chapters examine numerous geographic regions, allowing for readers to analyze how place and environment shapes the inmate experience.

Winner of the 2018 National Council on Crime & Delinquency’s Media for a Just Society Awards Winner of the 2017 Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice “Valuable . . . [like Michelle] Alexander's The New Jim Crow.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “Susan Burton is a national treasure . . . her life story is testimony to the human capacity for resilience and recovery . . . [Becoming Ms. Burton is] a stunning memoir.” —Nicholas Kristof, in The New York Times Winner of the prestigious NAACP Image Award, a uniquely American story of trauma, incarceration, and "the breathtaking resilience of the human spirit" (Michelle Alexander) Widely hailed as a stunning memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton is the remarkable life story of the renowned activist Susan Burton. In this "stirring and moving tour-de-force" (John Legend), Susan Burton movingly recounts her own journey through the criminal justice system and her transformation into a life of advocacy. After a childhood of immense pain, poverty, and abuse in Los Angeles, the tragic loss of her son led her into addiction, which in turn led to arrests and incarceration. During the War on Drugs, Burton was arrested and would cycle in and out of prison for more than fifteen years. When, by chance, she finally received treatment, her political awakening began and she became a powerful advocate for "a more humane justice system guided by compassion and dignity" (Booklist, starred review). Her award-winning organization, A New Way of Life, has transformed the lives of more than one thousand formerly incarcerated women and is an international model for a less punitive and more effective approach to rehabilitation and reentry. Winner of an NAACP Image Award and named a "Best Book of 2017" by the Chicago Public Library, here is an unforgettable book about "the breathtaking resilience of the human spirit" (Michelle Alexander).