“They Still Know I’m Their Momma”: Incarcerated Mothers’ Perceptions of Reunification and Resuming a Caregiver Role

• Date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Barbara Koons-Witt,Amber Wilson
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/1557085120983468
• Subject Matter: Articles

2021, Vol. 16(5) 583 –606

https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085120983468

Feminist Criminology

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/1557085120983468

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Article

“They Still Know I’m Their

Momma”: Incarcerated

Mothers’ Perceptions of

Reunification and Resuming

a Caregiver Role

Amber Wilson1 and Barbara Koons-Witt1

Abstract

Using in-depth interviews with mothers incarcerated in a maximum-security prison,

the current study explores incarcerated mothers’ own perceptions and expectations

regarding reunification with their families. For many of these mothers, reunification

was an exciting prospect, but they recognized that the transition may not be easy for

themselves, their children, or their children’s caregivers. Notably, while past research

has treated reunification as including assuming care of children, our study suggests

that some women view reunification strictly as rebuilding relationships with their

children without plans to assume caring for them. We discuss implications for policy

and programming for institutional and community corrections.

Keywords

formerly incarcerated mothers-reunification with children, women’s reentry, prison

programs, female inmates, caregivers

Introduction

Although significantly more men are incarcerated in state and federal prisons than

women (Carson, 2020), trends reveal that women comprise the fastest growing incar-

cerated population (Barnes & Stringer, 2014; Cobbina & Bender, 2012; Easterling

et al., 2018; Glaze & Maruschak, 2008; Haney, 2013), expanding 750% between 1980

and 2017 (The Sentencing Project, 2019). The number of mothers behind bars

1University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

Corresponding Author:

Amber Wilson, Currell College, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South

Carolina, 1305 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.

Email: alwilson@email.sc.edu

983468FCXXXX10.1177/1557085120983468Feminist CriminologyWilson and Koons-Witt

research-article2021

584 Feminist Criminology 16(5)

2 Feminist Criminology 00(0)

increased 122% between 1991 and 2007 (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008), and estimates

suggest that between 60% and 80% of incarcerated women are mothers to minor chil-

dren (Barnes & Stringer, 2014; The Sentencing Project, 2019). Despite the gradual

decline of incarcerated men and women over the last decade (Carson, 2020), estimates

suggest that more than 5 million children in the United States have a parent who has

been incarcerated in the criminal justice system during their childhood (The Annie E.

Casey Foundation, 2016).

Many incarcerated women face specific incarceration and reentry challenges asso-

ciated with motherhood. Compared to incarcerated men, women in prison are more

likely to have left behind minor age children and to have been their main caregiver just

prior to entering the corrections system (Cooper-Sadlo et al., 2019; Garcia, 2016;

Glaze & Maruschak, 2008; Hayes, 2009), and their reentry plans are more likely to

include resuming care of minor children (Barnes & Stringer, 2014; Garcia, 2016; Moe

& Ferraro, 2007; Robbins et al., 2009). As a large number of mothers are incarcerated

and subsequently released back into the community (Aiello & McQueeney, 2016), it is

increasingly important to understand how these women view and prepare for this

transition.

In the last two decades, scholars have begun to focus on the unique experiences of

women who are incarcerated and reentering our communities (Heidemann et al., 2015;

Hunter & Greer, 2011; Moe & Ferraro, 2007; O’Brien, 2001; Severance, 2004).

Although not focused specifically on parenting experiences, the findings from these

studies highlight the importance that many women with children place on their own

mothering skills and identities (Heidemann et al., 2015; Moe & Ferraro, 2007;

Severance, 2004). The growing research on incarcerated mothers has explored the

ways that women fulfill their motherhood role (Allen et al., 2010; Easterling et al.,

2018; Enos, 2001; Mignon & Ransford, 2012) and experience their identities as moth-

ers from behind bars (Barnes & Stringer, 2014; Brown & Bloom, 2009; Enos, 2001).

Additionally, some work in this area also includes understanding how previously

incarcerated mothers navigate the reentry process with their families following their

release from prison (Arditti & Few, 2006, 2008; Cooper-Sadlo et al., 2019; Hayes,

2009; Shamai & Kochal, 2008; Shortt et al., 2014). Yet, limited work has focused on

the expectations that incarcerated mothers have regarding reunifying with their chil-

dren and how they prepare for reunification immediately prior to their release from

prison. In an effort to fill this gap in the literature, our study explores the reunification

plans and expectations of a group of incarcerated mothers within 6 months of their

prison release date; notably, all of these mothers had experienced incarceration periods

of at least 12 months.

Understanding the expectations and planning process in which incarcerated moth-

ers engage immediately preceding their release from prison, especially following long

periods of incarceration, is increasingly relevant as we learn that incarcerated mothers,

even more so than incarcerated women generally, have very specific incarceration and

reentry experiences. Conducted as part of a larger study on motherhood identity and

criminal desistance, the current paper contributes to the reentry literature by examin-

ing firsthand how incarcerated mothers view their return to the community and how