A mother is a child’s primary caregiver since the second that they are born and their presence plays an important role in a child’s development. With the absence of the mother due to imprisonment, it can have a negative effect on a child’s social and psychological well-being. This often will result in this way because mothers are now unable to provide their child with the attention that they need daily. As a result of not being able to do so, children of incarcerated mothers find themselves struggling with behavioral problems.
I decided to do this final paper on children of incarcerated mothers because of the increasing numbers of women in prison, who is a parent of a child. Statistics by the U.S. Department of Justice have shown that, “75%
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of women in prison are mothers. Two-thirds of these women have children under the age of 18.” One of the main reasons why many women are in prison is because they are dealing with problems such as abuse and trauma that they are unable to overcome other than to turn to illegal drugs. The prison system fails to help women with their emotional needs, but rather makes it worse through the force separation of their children. As a result, mothers often will find themselves back in prison. Alisia Hunter, 37, explains this in a New York Times article. When Alisia was a child, her mother was sent to prison for financial offenses and without the presence of her mother, she was negatively affected. She had a baby at the age of 16, which means that she is now a mother and at the same time, she started to use drugs, which eventually got her to prison. Unlike many women, Alisia Hunter is not in prison for problems such as abuse, but rather the absence of her mother when she was a child. Based on her experience in prison, she mentions that while being in prison did prevent her from doing illegal drugs, it didn’t solve the problem to why she is doing drugs. The prison just cleaned her and she went right back to doing drugs. Furthermore, while she did try to go to rehab for drugs, the government was not willing to pay for her. However, they were willing to pay for her to go to prison. The government was only willing to pay for people who are seriously addicted to drugs and she did not fit into that category of addiction. Generally, this news media does a good job in depicting the topic of children of incarcerated parents through the example of Alisia Hunter, a mother who experienced life in prison for drugs. Like Alisia Hunter, many people, especially women also feel that prison does not help them deal with their problems in terms of drug use. The facts in regards to this topic are accurate as the class reading, titled How ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Misrepresents Women’s Federal Prison and Why It Matters further confirms this idea. Amos Irwin, training director of law enforcement against prohibition said, “Many women need counseling and medical help, not prison.” The purpose of this news media is to discuss problems from a woman’s past history or present that put them to prison and to suggest possible alternative to prison. These alternatives are often programs that offer women the medical and counseling that they need so that they could possibly overcome their problems. People may interpret this source to mean that women in prison need help, but the prison system is so focused on punishing them through incarcerating them. This can have an affect on the child as well because this would mean that there is a likelihood that their mother would end up back in prison and there would be even more lost time that children will get to be with their mothers. Furthermore, it might be possible that they are put in homes where they are sexually abused, which might also eventually put them in prison. This source have a negative impact on the topic as Alisia Hunter, a mother who experienced life in prison for drugs was not able to get the help that she needed. Additionally, the sadder part is that money wasn’t even the issue. The government have decided that they will pay for her to be in prison, but not for a program that might help her cope the problem that she is dealing with. On a scale of 1-10, this source would receive a 10 as there are scenarios of how mothers who are incarcerated are treated under the prison system. It is also important to understand why many women, especially mother are in prison in the first place and to hear that they have provided their own personal story. In a scholarly journal, Children Visiting Mothers in Prison: The Effects on Mothers’ Behavior, Karen Casey-Acevedo, Tim Bakken and Adria Karle explains that when mothers are behind bars, children barely, if any visit their mothers.
In their studies, they further explore how mothers in prison response when their child do visit them in prison. They noted that it is possible that visitation of mother in prison can worsen the situation and make mother stay in prison for longer because of the emotional attachment that they have with their children that they are unable to overcome. In fact, these women will do drugs in prison to overcome their emotional problem, which is often the same reason that they are in prison in the first place. However, this may not always be the case. For some mothers, when their children do visit them, it may serve them well when they do come out of prison. The overall conclusion of this study, however, is that mothers will struggle to adjust to the prison life with visitation of their child. Although it is best for mothers that their children do not visit them in prison, it does not solve the problem as the presence of the mother is important to a child even though it may be just a visit of them in …show more content…
prison. Overall, this scholarly journal does a good job in depicting the topic of children of incarcerated mothers because a clear study was done evolving the issue of children visiting their mothers in prison. There is also a clear layout of what was done to come to the conclusion that mothers will struggle to adjust to prison life with visitation of their child, but that visitation are still important to children, especially when they are young. The overall purpose of this scholarly journal is to examine how when a child visit their mother in prison, it can change the behavior of the mother while they are in prison. People may interpret this scholarly journal to mean that the prison system itself is a negative institution. It is meant to isolate prisoners from keeping in contact with people outside. There is no way to work around it so that it does good to children with mothers in prison or the mother when they are in prison. On a scale of 1-10, this source would receive a 10. It is very impactful in understanding how children visiting mothers in prison might shape a child’s and mother’s social and psychological well-being in the future, when the mother is out of prison or how it may shape the development of the child. Just like how mothers are affected by the force separation of their child due to being incarcerated, the separation of mothers from children is even more devastating. In a coming to age film, White Oleander, Ingrid, who is a mother of a 15 year old girl named Astrid Magnussun killed Barry Kolker with the White Oleander flower. She was upset at the fact that he broke her heart after she was in love with him and in doing so, she served herself prison for first degree murder. The judge have decided that she has less than 35 years to life and a max sentence to life in prison. As a result of this, Astrid was told that was being taken away from her mother to go foster care. She did not, however, have a permanent foster care, but rather found herself in multiple foster care with multiple foster parents. Living in foster care wasn’t a great experience for Astrid. All her foster mother themselves were not mentally stable. The first foster mother that Astrid was placed with ended up killing herself. The second foster mother abused her and the third foster mother had her doing labor. With the absence of her mother, Astrid also found herself struggling to live stably. She started to do drugs and have attempted so many suicide. Nevertheless, she was still able to keep in contact with her mother in prison through sending letters. For the most part, this film does a pretty good job in depicting the topic of children of incarcerated parents through Astrid’s story.
There is a clear beginning, middle, and end of the movie on how Astrid’s mom ended up in prison and what happened to Astrid when her mother went to prison. Although the genre of this film is not based on a real story and certain parts may be serve to be dramatic, the overall content of the movie could be real. Children do usually go through behavioral problems and find themselves wanting to end their life when their parents are in prison. In a Go Kids article, by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, psychotherapist Dr. Janice Beal confirms this idea. She states, “One thing that I continuously see is depression among this population. The children (of incarcerated parents ) express a lot of anger and a lot of aggressive behavior and some anxiety. Children express depression different from adults. They don’t verbalize it. They usually act out their behavior.” In the case of Astrid, she started to act out by doing drugs and faced a depression that she wanted to commit suicide. This source was created to tell a story of how it is like to live in with foster parents when the child’s actual parents are incarcerated or absence for other reasons and how that could affect the child in the long run. People may interpret this source as something that could happen to anyone beyond their control when their parents are incarcerated. On a scale of 1-10,
this source would receive a 9 because although it outlines a real case that could happen to children of incarcerated parents, there is still issue like behavior in schools that wasn’t included. I’m not sure if this was done on purpose or may be Astrid doesn’t go to school. But I feel like if that was included in this film in some way, it would be very impactful as a lot of children do go to school and their behavior is based on issue that they face at home. The big take away about the topic is that when children have parents that are incarcerated, the way that the prison system is set up makes it hard for the bond that parents and their children have to be the same. As all of my sources tie to children of incarcerated parents, but are different, one idea lead into the other which is why they are relevant. The first source that I used is from the news media which talks about women going to prison mainly for drug offenses. As a result, children are obviously affected by it because now their mother isn't presence in their life. Prison not only do not help women with why they are there in the first place which is for drug offenses. But now that they are in prison, visitation is necessary for the benefits of the children no matter what. However, studies have shown that visitation may negatively affect the mother. The third source then illustrates a scenario that could happen to children of incarcerated parents. Although not every children who have parents that are incarcerated end up having to go to a foster care, Astrid’s story is still effective in showing the aftermath of children when their parents are absent in their life.
This paper is about the book 'Behind a Convict's Eyes' by K.C. Cerceral. This book was written by a young man who enters prison on a life sentence and describes the world around him. Life in prison is a subculture of its own, this subculture has its own society, language and cast system. The book describes incidents that have happen in prison to inmates. With this paper I will attempt to explain the way of life in a prison from an inmate's view.
“The Long Goodbye: Mother’s Day in Federal Prison”, written by Amanda Coyne depicts the struggles of parents and family members with the emotional trauma children go through due to the absence of their loved one. The story tugs the heart strings of readers with its descriptive account of Mother’s Day in a minimum security federal prison. Coyne describes the human emotions and truly gives an accurate account of what being in a visitation room is like. “The Long Goodbye: Mother’s Day in Federal Prison” makes the reader question the criminal justice system and convinces him or her to adjust their way of thinking towards the definition of criminalization through the logos, pathos, and ethos demonstrated throughout the text.
This article dives deeper into the issue of black incarcerated women by going one step deeper and examining another dynamic of this issue, which is black incarcerated mothers specifically. I appreciate this article because it recognizes that this corrupt and unjust system is also the result of heteropatriarchy, that insists women be dependent on men, and punishes those who defy this standard. It is important to also recognize that traditional notions of family are invoked in these ideals and punishments, constructed by Eurocentric patriarchy. Although I will only briefly discuss how foster systems are connected with this issue because this is nevertheless an important dynamic to identify, I will mostly focus on the mothers themselves and how they are affected by the maintenance of black incarcerated
Kreager, Derek A., Ross L. Matsueda, and Elena A. Erosheva. 2010. “Motherhood and Criminal Desistance in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods.” Criminology 48:221-58.
Hairston, C., & Lockett, P. (1987). Parents in Prison: New Directions for Social Services. Social Work , 162-164.
While most expectant mothers are planning for baby showers, shopping for maternity clothes and preparing the baby’s nursery, the incarcerated mother-to-be has to remain in a constant state of alertness and preparedness for situations that can put her and her unborn baby at risk, in an environment that is both intimidating and routinely violent. (Hutchinson et. al., 2008)
Kreager, Derek A., Ross L. Matsueda, and Elena A. Erosheva. 2010. “Motherhood and Criminal Desistance in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods.” Criminology 48:221–58.
Can you imagine having your parents incarcerated? I can, when I was 10 years old my father was incarcerated and at age 23 my mother was incarcerated. Parental incarceration impacts you as a child or a teen in so many ways due to only one parent or grandparent being able to raise the child without the other. Parental incarceration is a very dramatic event in a child's lifespan. Having a parent incarcerated can have an impact on a child's mental health, social life and educational needs. Studies show parental incarceration can be more traumatic to students than even a parent's death or divorce, and the damage it can cause to students' education, health, and social relationships puts them at higher risk of one day going to prison themselves.(Sparks,
In 2007 there were approximately 77,200 fathers and 65,600 mothers incarcerated in the United States (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007). As our society continues to grow, our jail and prison population are growing as well. When a parent or guardian is taken into custody the juvenile (child) is taken and released to a relative or child protective services. The children are either given to a close family member or a surrogate parent, meaning a foster home. This may have an emotional impact on the juvenile involved, which may lead them to committing delinquent acts. The children sometimes feel they are left to fend for themselves emotionally and the stress of these emotions are left upon the guardian at the time. These intense sufferings sometimes leave the juveniles in a harmful mental state resembling depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and feelings of abandonment from their parents/guardians. Children with incarcerated parents are five times more likely than their peers to commit crimes (Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 2008).
The writer’s main goals was to persuade that mass incarceration is huge problem for the academics of children whose parents are incarcerated. Melinda D. Anderson wrote the article toward the criminal justice system and audience that are against mass incarceration. People who have families that are in jails and unintentional audience who read news regarding this issue. Several different people each day are facing problems regarding incarceration. They’re people who have their parents, brothers, sister in jail. The writer is trying to prove the point that having those people in jail is creating hardship for families and it needs to be stopped. The Students who have their parents in jail is causing them to lose not only their parents but also their life because of that fact without their parents, the children do not have a source of income, which leads to being not able to eat, study or perhaps live in safe
Easterling and Johnson. (2012). Understanding Unique Effects of Parental Incarceration on Children: Challenges, Progress, and Recommendations. Journal of Marriage and Family, 342-356.
Gabel, Katherine & Johnston, Denise. (1995). Children of Incarcerated Parents. New York, N.Y.: Lexington Books.
Krisberg, B. A. & Temin, C. E. (2001). The plight of children whose parents are in prison. National Council on Crime Delinquency. Available:F:USERSEveryoneWEBSITE ARTICLESChildren of Incarcerated Parents Newsletter.wpd
The challenges of children who grow up with parents whom were incarcerated at some point in their childhood can have a major effect on their life. The incarceration of parents can at times begin to affect the child even at birth. Now with prison nurseries the impregnated mother can keep her baby during her time in jail. With the loss of their parent the child can begin to develop behavioral problems with being obedient, temper tantrums, and the loss of simple social skills. Never learning to live in a society they are deprived of a normal social life. “The enormous increase incarceration led to a parallel, but far less documented, increase in the proportion of children who grew up with a parent incarcerated during their childhood” (Johnson 2007). This means the consequences of the children of the incarcerated parents receive no attention from the media, or academic research. The academic research done in this paper is to strengthen the research already worked by many other people. The impact of the parent’s incarceration on these children can at times be both positive and negative. The incarceration of a parent can be the upshot to the change of child’s everyday life, behavioral problems, and depriving them a normal social life.
Not only is prison ineffective in preventing reoffending in women and is expensive, it can be extremely damaging to the female’s well-being and their families. The effect that a custodial sentence has on women is arguably far worse than for men. Women are often not prepared or equipped for their life following their prison sentence; due to the fact that women are more likely to be lone parents before prison (Social Exclusion Unit, 2002), are more likely to leave prison homeless and unemployed (Wedderburn, 2000), and are more likely to lose access of their children whilst serving their sentence (Corston, 2007). Statistics from 2010 showed that around 17,000 children become separated from their mother by imprisonment (Wilks-Wiffen, 2011). This can be absolutely devastating to not only the female offender, but to their innocent children too. Moreover, due to the small number of women’s prisons, the average distance that women are sent away from their homes is around 60 miles (Women in Prison, 2013). Therefore, even if the women are lucky enough to keep in contact with their children, it can be tremendously hard to organise visitation and uphold