MATERNAL SEPARATIONS DURING THE REENTRY YEARS FOR 100 INFANTS RAISED IN A PRISON NURSERY

• Author: Barbara Blanchard‐Lewis,Lorie Goshin,Mary W. Byrne
• Published date: 01 January 2012
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1617.2011.01430.x
• Date: 01 January 2012

MATERNAL SEPARATIONS DURINGTHE REENTRYYEARS FOR 100

INFANTS RAISED INA PRISON NURSERY

Mary W. Byrne, Lorie Goshin, and Barbara Blanchard-Lewis

Prison nurseries prevent maternal separations related to incarceration for the small subset of children whose pregnant mothers

are incarcerated in states with such programs. For a cohort of 100 children accepted by corrections into one prison nursery,

subsequent separation patterns are analyzed.The largest numbers are caused by corrections’ removal of infants from the nursery

and infants reaching a one-year age limit. Criminal recidivism and substance abuse relapse threaten continued mothering during

reentry. Focusedand coordinated services are needed during prison stay and reentry years to sustain mothering for women and

children accepted into prison nursery programs.

Keywords: prison nursery;attachment;separation;reentry;parenting;caregivers;support services

Prison nurseries provide a housing space inside a secure criminal justice corrections setting

where incarcerated women can co-reside with their newborn infants for various periods of time

during which the mother completes an imposed judicial sentence while being the primary caregiver

for her infant. Such arrangements have existed throughout the world and to a lesser extent in the

United States (US; Cook & Davies, 1999; Weintraub, 1987). They have varied widely in terms of

underlying philosophy, political will to support them, and resources available to mother and child

(Goshin & Byrne, 2009; Kauffman, 2001; Radosh, 1988; Robertson, 2008; Shepard & Zemans,

1950). In the US, prison nursery programs have existed at one time or another within local, state,

and federal jurisdictions with an erratic history of sustainability (Byrne, 2010; Craig, 2009). Such

programs in this country have long been assumed by advocates to both create and sustain secure

infant attachments, to establish a foundation that protects future child development, and to prevent

the adult participants’ criminal recidivism. Opponents have claimed they interfere with prison secu-

rity, interrupt child development and impose eventual separations.These assumptions have only

recently been tested in the first longitudinal study of maternal and child outcomes for a cohort of

prison nursery co-residents in a New York State prison system (Byrne, n.d.). This paper extends

previously reported attachment findings from this study (Borelli, Goshin, Joestl, Clark, & Byrne,

2010; Byrne, Goshin, & Joestl, 2010) by exploring the patterns of union and separation experienced

by a cohort of former prison co-residing mothers and infants who gave informed consent to par-

ticipate in longitudinal studies that began in prison and have continued from one through eight

reentry years.

MATERNAL INCARCERATIONAND EFFECTS OF SEPARATION ON CHILDREN

FORCED SEPARATION AND CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS

The bulk of literature on children of incarcerated women has been limited to anecdotal evidence of

the harm caused by forced separation, and disseminated with the intent to support advocacy for

recognition of these children’s needs. While advocacy work is critical for this vulnerable group of

dependents, many aspects of child development in this population remain unexamined or poorly

Correspondence: mwb4@columbia.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW,Vol. 50 No. 1, January 2012 77–90

© 2012 Association of Familyand Conciliation Cour ts