Lana Marlow's study "Mothers in Prison, Women's Autobiography, and Activism" was compelling in that it gave voice to a group of people whose stories aren't often heard. I've read about mothers in prison before, but Marlow's account was the first I've read that discussed the issue from the women's perspective rather than in terms of statistics and generalizations. It is also interesting how societal gender inequalities are manifested in the system of incarceration. While most children whose fathers go to prison end up living with their mothers, when mothers go to prison far fewer fathers take up the burden of childcare. Many mothers are sent to prison for drug-related crimes. The images of the "crack mother" and "crack baby" are easily used to justify harsher sentences for women who are mothers. This is one of the many ways motherhood is used to punish women. Women who are mothers are held to a higher standard of behavior by society because their actions are expected to affect the lives of their children. While I certainly believe it is wrong for a mother to put her children in danger because of her involvement with drugs or other criminal activity, I do not believe the mothers of these children should be held to a harsher standard than their fathers or women who are not mothers.
The fact that 80% of women in prison are mothers of young children is a shocking statistic. I can't imagine the guilt and sadness that would come with not being able to watch your children grow up and be a part of their lives because of a mistake you made. If I were an incarcerated mother I honestly don't know if I would prefer to have my child live with me in prison for as long as possible or have him/her grow up on the outside in a more "normal" environment. In my research, I found that the age at which children are removed from their incarcerated mothers varies from country to country. In most countries, children can no longer live full-time in prison with their mothers after the age of 18 months to 2 years. However, in some countries, such as Argentina and Canada, children can stay with their incarcerated mothers until the age of 4 (International Corrections and Prisons Association). There are also some programs (I read about one in Illinois) that allow a limited number of women who meet certain qualifications to keep their children with them in prison. Because of the increase in the number of women and mothers in prison, there are many new programs that attempt to keep incarcerated mothers connected with their children during their time in prison. The Florida Department of Corrections instituted a pilot program in 2000 called Reading Family Ties, in which children and their mothers can "video chat" so that they can spend time together without the children entering the prison, which can be a traumatizing experience (TIME). While the programs I read about were all very interesting, it is worth noting that fewer programs like this seem to exist to help fathers in prison maintain contact with their children. Yet again we see the gender inequalities in parenting...
