Max In Prison

California is the biggest state that has the largest prisoners’ population and it was in poverty. The state in 2005, there were twenty-four more new prisons build in California that had an addition houses for mothers. Mother was allowed to spend time with their children while in prison. This would give the mother and her child or children time to bond with each other.

Incarceration has grown so much in the past three decades. Majority of these prisoners are parents to small children. More than ever, we need the cooperation between corrections, health and human service to work together to help these prisoners to get back to a good life. As we know incarceration and probation occurred in 1813 when Judge Peter Thatcher began placing youthful offenders under the supervision of officials. He also helped drunks and other unfortunates by bailing them out and provide “friendly supervision” to help them to

Approximately 80% of incarcerated women are mothers (Mapson, 2013). On average, the adult female offender is between the ages of 25 and 29. Historically, incarcerated women live with their children prior to incarceration and are the sole financial support for those children. When a mother is incarcerated over 80% live with relatives (mostly maternal grandparents) and about 20% live in foster care. Due to mothers being placed far from populated centers, more than half of mothers will not see their children while they are imprisoned. Women rarely see their children due to the child being in foster care or with family members that do not have the financial resources to travel for visits.

The problems at hand that the SIMARRA Act bill is proposing to address, involves child welfare issues, women’s health concerns, and a lack of protection and healthcare needs for these women and their unborn children within the criminal justice system. According to the bill, it has been propositioned to enhance the welfare and public health for incarcerated pregnant women and mothers by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the Federal prison system, by establishing a pilot program of critical-stage, developmental nurseries in Federal prisons for children born to inmates, with risk needs assessments, and risk and recidivism reduction (H.R.5130, 2016). The bill is intended to focus and alleviate the lack thereof adequate care, stress, and hazardous health practices that incarcerated mothers are experiencing with their infant babies, while also monitoring the health of these women. Both the mothers and infants are affected in these situations because the health of the mother has substantial

Mother Behind Bars examines a lot of inadequate policies and procedures that these states have in place for federal and state correctional facilities. This report card bring up the issue on prenatal care, shackling, prison nurseries, and family based treatment as an alternative to incarceration however in this paper I will focus on the restraints on these pregnant inmates. New Jersey received a grade of D for shackling policies. Besides New Jersey thirty-seven other states obtain a D/F for their failure to comprehensively limit, or limit at all, the use of restraints on pregnant women transportation, labor, delivery, and postpartum recuperation (National Women’s Law Center, 2010). The use of restraints can compromise the health and safety of the women and the unborn child. Shackling pregnant women is dangerous and inhumane; women prisoners are still routinely shackled during pregnancy and childbirth. The reason these women are shackled is for safety and security, despite the fact that shackling pregnant women is degrading, unnecessary and a violation of human rights some state still condone this practice.

In the past thirty years the number of incarcerated women in the United States increased by 646%, it is estimated that 6-10% of these women were pregnant at intake. “An Examination of Care Practices of Pregnant Women Incarcerated in Jail Facilities in the United States,” is a study that examined the pregnancy related accommodation and health care provided for regional jail populations. Prior to this study no other study examined regional jail populations, they strictly focused on prison populations. This study is a quantitative survey of common practices and policies implemented across 53 jail facilities in the United States as a function of geographic region. This survey was administered through phone or email to employees

In the past thirty years, the incarceration of women has risen exponentially. Poverty, lack of access to education, abuse, addiction, mental health and parenting issues all impact women’s criminality and health before, during and after they are incarcerated (Hannaher, K., 2007). By 2010 there were nearly 206,000 women currently serving time in the criminal justice system. As the years go by, the numbers are constantly increasing (Women Behind Bars, 2015). The number of pregnant women incarcerated has also been on the rise. Most incarcerated women do not receive proper prenatal care before entering the criminal justice system. Because these women are from mostly poverty neighborhoods, they are more likely to endure domestic violence, poor

We know much more about incarcerated mothers than we know about incarcerated fathers. For example, over 70% of female inmates are mothers of dependent children under the age of eighteen. Almost 90% of incarcerated females are single parents and heads of households. According to some estimates, a quarter of a million children are separated from their parents each year by jail and prison (Glick & Neto, 1977; McGowan & Blumenthal, 1978; McPeek & Tse, 1988; U.S. Department of Justice, 1992). We do not have this kind of information about incarcerated fathers. The lack of statistics concerning fathers in prison may suggest that they are a forgotten group.

Care for pregnant women is even more dismal, considering their additional health needs” (p. 11). The quantitative report goes on to state that many pregnant offenders have undiagnosed or untreated conditions that can increase the pregnancy risks and contribute to poor birth outcomes. Mothers Behind Bars surveyed all 50 states regarding prenatal care and found: 43 states did not require medical examinations as a component of prenatal care; 41 states did not require prenatal nutrition counseling or the provision of appropriate nutrition; 34 states did not require screening and treatment for high-risk pregnancies; 48 states did not offer advice on activity levels and safety during pregnancy; 45 states did not make advance arrangements for deliveries with particular hospitals; and 49 states failed to report all incarcerated women’s pregnancies and their outcomes (The Rebecca Project for Human Rights and the National Women's Law Center, 2010). Researchers did not list under limitations of their findings if obstetric care was provided inside or contracted to an outside care provider. This information would have been beneficial and may have affected the state’s responses to the survey questions. Ferszt and Clarke (2012) conducted a qualitative survey of 50 wardens, a warden at a women’s correctional

However, inmates with children are perhaps the most affected by the pains of imprisonment as the separation and loss of contact to these children effect both the parents, children and all loved ones close by. According to a study done by Joseph Murray (2005) titled, The effects of imprisonment on families and children of prisoners, "imprisonment of a partner can be emotionally devastating and practically debilitating", causing a "loss of income, social isolation, difficulties of maintaining contact, deterioration in relationships, and extra burdens of childcare can compound a sense of loss and hopelessness for prisoners’ partners (para 7)”.

Growing up in Child Protective Services care due to a drug addicted mother may have contributed to Browder’s prison experience. He may have viewed being removed from his mother’s care as a sign of unfairness and used the reasoning from that experience to cope with his imprisonment. He may have believed if he continued to have hope he would eventually be release similarly to his adoption into his new family. Fortunately, that day finally came. After spending a total of 1000 days prison and 800 of those days in solitary confinement Browder was released.

The way I would respond to this legislation is that I would support newborns staying with their mothers in prison (Schmallegar & Smykla 2015). I would support this legislation as long as the program was used for non-violent criminal offenders to ensure that the program works efficiently. Also, I would support the program because studies have shown that the mothers and the babies first two years are critical to mother-baby bonding and women who are allowed to raise the children in jail are less likely to return to jail (Oliver, 2012). A Nebraska study showed that 33 percent of women who were separated from their children returned to prison and just 9 percent of women who were allowed to raise their children in prison returned. Other studies

Some of the challenges in the perinatal care in the correctional setting include lack of prenatal care prior to incarceration, drug or alcohol dependency, psychosocial problems or lack of outside family support, victim or transgressor of past abuse or violence and the psychological challenges of being incarcerated. For many women, the reality of being in the prison system can be devastating; the separation from family, which often includes their own children, and friends can cause depression, anxiety and fear. Personal physical safety is also a concern, as prison is often described as having its own “culture”, structure and hierarchy,

The impact of a mother’s arrest is more disruptive on the family. According to the California Research Bureau “two thirds of incarcerated mothers were the primary caregivers for at least one child before they were arrested” (Simmons, 2000, p. 6) With significant impact on the family unit it is difficult not to mention the effect of mothers being incarcerated is creating more psychological problems among children. Parental arrest creates shame, fear, guilt, trauma, and anxiety, which in turn adds to the decline of behavior manifestations in children. When children withdraw, or have low self-esteem their school performance declines, truancy increase, and the alcohol and drug usage leads to aggressive actions which creates cycle of incarcerations. More than half of those incarcerated receive visits from their children. I believe that if these women are in detention for behaviors that do not impair others then we should have one facility per state that incorporates a campus like environment for prolonged sojourns for children.

Furthermore, female inmates are another challenge for correctional administrators. For example, an important and alarming issue such as overwhelming pregnancy and abortion related health care factors can become expensive. These inmates need special clear, intensive monitoring and observation. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, “200,000 women are living behind prison or jail walls and thousands of these women are pregnant and dependent on the correctional administrators for health care.” (para. 1). Even though correctional administrators are legally obligated to meet their needs, there are guidelines that they must follow. These guidelines are put in place to further assist correctional administrators so that they are not violating the rights and well-being of female inmates who are already pregnant or considering on having a child while incarcerated.