Introduction
Incarceration of parents or one of them is one of the severe tests for children who are forced to take on a new role and provide the rest of their family with economic, emotional, or financial support. Relationships with imprisoned parents and people around “orphans” often change for the worse. In addition, women raising a baby in prison expose themselves and their children to many deadly diseases due to a lack of good food, fresh air, and timely qualified medical care. Nevertheless, such adults actively and continuously strive to compensate for these educational omissions. Parents have high expectations for their children despite the fact that they are raising them from prison.
Motherhood in Prison
Primarily, it is essential to highlight that perception of children from the view of placing high hopes, predicting optimistic prospects, and expecting impressive results is an entirely typical and natural phenomenon in the spectrum of family relations, including in prison conditions. Primarily, it is evident that parents see the continuation of themselves in children, perceiving their life as a chance to catch up. They experience any critical failures of offspring as their own. Furthermore, it is no secret that individuals do not live in a vacuum, in a glass jar. Still, they live among people, and their fate is closely connected with relatives, friends, acquaintances, and enemies. Therefore, in the eyes of society, it is essential to look decent, and if a child does not behave “as they should,” it is a depressing moment for adults.
In general, motherhood in prison is one of modern America’s most acute social problems. Today, about 58% of all women in U.S. prisons have one or more children; more than 150,000 incarcerated mothers are away from their relatives (Bertram and Sawyer 1). Women raising children in correctional institutions are not particularly revered either on the other side of an iron fence or on this side.
In fact, a prison for mothers-prisoners is a punitive environment that contributes to the complication of maintaining the parental role and responsibility, as well as the process of correct implementation of parental decisions (Breuer et al. 12). Nonetheless, being a mother is a priority for almost every woman, whether she is in prison or not. Having a child in prison is paradoxical but a chance for a woman to change her life for the better. Motherhood is the very natural tool that makes a woman responsible and caring. Therefore, the re-education and correction of the imprisoned woman by motherhood is the most humanitarian and human resource. If a mother who gave birth in prison gets attached to her child, she will forget everything in the world. The maternal instinct will do everything by itself, and the state and society only need to create decent conditions for this.
Hence, despite various difficulties, obstacles and restrictions, mothers-prisoners continue to believe and hope for a bright, positive future for their children. In particular, adults in prison may positively impact their children’s lives and upbringing, even being distant from their descendants. Accordingly, prisoners who fail as citizens can succeed as parents, and prison can provide an opportunity to become more caring, attentive, knowledgeable mothers or fathers.
Parent in Child Relationship While Incarcerated
As practice shows, maintaining a healthy and positive connection between a child and a parent during incarceration seems extremely difficult, mainly due to the limited number and unsatisfactory quality of contacts. For instance, prison rules, distances, different requirements for family members, or unwillingness of one of the parties to meet may hinder and restrict relations between children and their incarcerated parents (Kennedy et al. 3). As a rule, the breakdown of relationships during imprisonment is the most common phenomenon faced by women who have violated the laws (Kennedy et al. 3). It is essential to remember that the effectiveness of communicating with an incarcerated adult depends on a wide range of different factors, including the quality of the relationship before imprisonment and the limits to which detained parents and their children want to continue the affinity while on different sides of prison bars.
In this case, keeping a good relationship between relatives is crucial, especially if they are weak or tense. Frequent and flexible contact with children can improve the emotional and psychological health of an adult and reduce parental stress (Kennedy et al. 3). However, prison can change the usual structure of parent-child connections because children understand that incarcerated parents do not have the opportunity from behind bars to use parental authority to control them or give them instructions (Dargis and Mitchell-Somoza 5). In this case, adults must consider this phenomenon and try to communicate with youths gently and flexibly to benefit their personalities.
In contrast, there are many cases when parents live in prison together with their young kids. Thus, in some cases, preschool children are forced to live in unacceptable conditions for full and comprehensive development and growth. Unfortunately, some US prisons do not always provide food, considering parents should often share inappropriate meals with their offspring. However, having contact for the entire period of detention is an essential political consideration with many positive characteristics (Dargis and Mitchell-Somoza 5). Finding preschool-age children with their relatives in prison can strengthen their bond and help avoid the negative impacts of separation on both mother and child.
Prison Nurseries
Prison nurseries are specially designated places in prison for the incarceration of mothers and their children. Thus, this part of prison has unique conditions for forming a comfortable living environment with a child. It is noteworthy that sometimes these āapartmentsā are initially included in a jail plan. However, as a rule, womenās ādungeonsā are often built according to a model initially created for men. In the aftermath, they are reconstructed in the process of realizing the natural needs of mothers with kids. Such programs are rare in the country, but this fact does not detract from their importance and significance against the background of the dynamics of the growth in the number of women prisoners (Jouvenal 1). The situation regarding child maturation is not perfect for mothers. Regardless, childrenās rooms designed in US prisons permit mothers-prisoners to breathe a little ācalmer,ā at least. In a sense, prison nurseries are designed to make life easier for young children who āinvoluntarilyā find themselves in prisons with their mothers.
Anyway, children’s prison rooms differ from the rest of the other premises. In these rooms, colored drawings and portraits of kids hang on the walls; juniors laugh, play, and do gymnastics. This picture is more like a kindergarten right up to the moment when local guards begin their rounds. Women and their children live in housing separated from the main prison building. The house of every mother with a child is a cell equipped with a crib, a changing table, and decorated with bright pictures. There are no bars on prison cells, and women in this wing are not handcuffed because this can cause stress in children, even small ones; security remains a top priority. Cameras are installed above each crib; when a child leaves their block, all prisoners are ordered to stop moving and stay in their places. Children can play outside the prison walls in the courtyard, which can be accessed from a gymnasium.
Raising a Child in Prison
Raising a child, particularly in prison, is a complex, lengthy and painstaking process that requires much work, time, effort, and endurance. Moreover, as practice shows, children end up in prison only when they are born there. It is impossible to take a little child with a mother to places of detention. In exceptional cases, this is feasible, although a mother and child are often separated. The US Government is doing its best to mitigate this problem by implementing several programs. Due to this support, women believe in themselves, their children, and the family’s future, reminding them that something is impressive and valuable in the world that is worth living for.
However, experiments regarding a child’s upbringing within prison walls still cause fierce debate. On the one hand, such programs allow mothers to build a crucial early connection with children, which has a beneficial effect on children’s health and gives an incentive to mothers to improve their lives (Jouvenal 1). On the other hand, jail is an unsuitable place for children, and programs can prevent the inevitable separation of a child from the mother, making it more painful later (Jouvenal 1). The fact remains that the program gives many families a lifeline they are trying to grab onto.
Particular employees in the prison help mothers monitor their children during the day while women attend classes, gain valuable skills and undergo treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. Mothers are treated with understanding, but prison authorities do not give concessions simultaneously. Employees control the process of raising children so that women do not make mistakes, as they usually do not know the basics of proper upbringing. Under the guidance of volunteers, mothers play with children, read books, and communicate. Hence, while in prison, a prisoner can master the basic skills of motherhood since, in most cases, their mothers did not possess them. In order for women not to commit repeated crimes, they must have something that will stop them, namely, their connection with children. Caretakers of a center give women the tools that will allow them to become successful.
Conclusion
Summarizing the above, it is required to remark that the upbringing and education of children in prison isolation is, perhaps, the most challenging task for any parent. Despite such disappointing circumstances, adults do not lose faith and hope in a more promising future for their kids, who will be able to grow up to be respectable citizens of the country. Raising a child in specific organizations often occurs both at a distance and in close proximity. Each process involves an individual approach and specific strategies that allow a mother or father to interact competently, accurately, and correctly with an offspring.
Works Cited
Breuer, Erica, et al. āThe Needs and Experiences of Mothers While in Prison and Post-Release: A Rapid Review and Thematic Synthesis.ā Health & Justice, vol. 9, no. 31, 2021, Web.
Bertram, Wanda, and Wendy Sawyer. āPrisons And Jails Will Separate Millions of Mothers from Their Children In 2021.ā The Prison Policy Initiative, 2021, Web.
Dargis, Monika, and Arielle Mitchell-Somoza. āChallenges Associated with Parenting While Incarcerated: A Review.ā Int J Environ Res Public Health, vol. 18, no. 18, 2021, Web.
Jouvenal, Justin. āRaising Babies Behind Bars.ā The Washington Post, 2018, Web.
Kennedy, Stephanie C., et al. āāI Took Care of My Kidsā: Mothering While Incarcerated.ā Health & Justice, vol. 8, no. 12, 2019, Web.