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What happens to the children of mothers in prison?

“It’s hard when it’s your mum in prison…she’s supposed to be the one looking after you.” (Malik, 13)

Today marks International Children’s Day.

The View dedicates this day to 741 000 women in prison across the world and over 500 000 incarcerated mothers.

Children of incarcerated mothers bear the brunt of the effects of unjust, kneejerk incarceration imposed by prison systems all over the world. In the 19th century, Elizabeth Fry started a protest against children being held in abysmal conditions alongside their imprisoned mothers. Today, we see that not much has changed and in both the UK and US this problem continues.

Let’s start with a focus on the mothers inside prisons. Approximately 600 pregnant women enter prisons in England each year and about 100 babies are born inside. A report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights says, “the imprisonment of mothers imposes significant suffering on children, who have committed no crime. The Covid-19 pandemic greatly exacerbates this suffering”.

The 100 children born each year in English prisons are subject to humiliation, deprivation, abuse, enforced maternal separation and suffering due to having an incarcerated mother. The mother is also a victim in the English prison system. An example of this is women held in HMP Bronzefield on remand. One woman gave birth alone in her prison cell 27 September 2019, and the baby died.

The UN Charter for the Rights of a Child states children are not just objects who belong to their parents and for whom decisions are made, or adults-in-training. They are human beings and individuals with their own rights. The Convention states that childhood is separate from adulthood, and lasts until 18; “it is a special, protected time, in which children must be allowed to grow, learn, play, develop and flourish with dignity” (Convention on the Rights of a Child).

Considering this clear, dedicated protection of children internationally, we would hope that the dignity of children of incarcerated mothers is ensured.

However, in the US let’s take a look at Texas. In Texas, 4 out of 5 women in prison are mothers. A majority of these mothers tend to be single mothers who are solely responsible for their young children. As a result, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services reports that since 2016, parental incarceration has played a role in nearly 20,000 children entering the state’s foster care system every year.

In 2019, the UK Parliament published a report written by the Joint Committee of Human Rights. This report gives the UK government recommendations on the challenges faced by children whose mothers are in prison. The main contention is that sending a mother to prison has a serious, detrimental impact on her children. This report reiterates that children who experience a parent going to prison as a child are more likely than their peers to have future problems. They have an increased likelihood of criminal offending, mental health problems, drug and alcohol addiction, and dying before age 65. Also, a child with an imprisoned mother is likely to suffer more negative effects than a child with an imprisoned father. This is seen as more children with incarcerated mothers express a great fear of authority figures over those with incarcerated fathers.

How can we help to change prison systems both in the US and the UK to accommodate children of imprisoned mothers? Are we going to continue to let our innocent children bear the pain of our unjust prison system? How can we let supposedly mature western democracies ignore children of incarcerated mothers?

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