Prison Social Bond

her it could create serious problems for the child. Many children who have mothers in prison are shuffled from one foster home to another. Because of this the child is not able to have the secure attachment that they need from an early age. As they grow older without these attachments it becomes harder to build these bonds with others.

When a child does not have these bonds in their life to hold they are more likely to fall in with friends who have week social bonds. They are more likely to commit the same acts that their friends and parents commit because this is the common bond that can easily be found between them. If they do not have the positive social bonds from a young age they are more likely to seek out the negative bonds that will help them to feel as if they belong.

Allowing the mother to raise her infant in the prison system also helps the mother to build those strong social bonds to become a productive member of society upon her release. The mother may not have had many positive social bonds in her life prior to her incarceration. The prison nursery programs provide the mother with training and therapy on how to build these bonds with their child and teaches her

how to help her child build these bonds. Raising the child gives the mother someone to be accountable to. Parenting the child will build maturity and teach responsibility to the mother. Having that positive social bond with her child will also help her to build social bonds with others inside and outside of the prison.
In the prison nursery program mothers and children live in a segregated unit with other mothers and infants.

These mothers in the program build positive relationships with each other because they are going through the same situation. They can provide support to each other through all the emotions that come with pregnancy and raising children. The mothers in the nursery program also must be on perfect behavior to continue to be a part of the program. Therefore, they learn to have respect and appropriate relationships with the staff that is working with them. They must follow the rules of the prison nursery society that they are living in or risk not being able to raise their child. This helps them with following the rules of society and fit in better when they are released from the

prison.
The prison nursery provides a support system built from the staff and other participants in the program. Research shows that having this social support can help a person deal with this very stressful situation that the mother is in (Borelli, 2010). Prison brings about quite a bit of stress as it is. Adding a pregnancy and the upcoming unknown makes the situation even more stressful. Having this support system in place helps the mother to ease the stress and deal with trials that she is facing.

Cases:
In the case of Stanley v. Illinois, the court ruled that a person has the right to raise their own child. The court stated “rights to conceive and to raise one’s children has been deemed ‘essential.’” (Vainik, 2008) In the case Stanley was fighting for his right to parent his children after the death of his partner. Because he was not married to the children’s mother the children were placed in the custody of the state (Stanley v. Illinois, 1972). At that time in Illinois all children became wards of the state if their parents weren’t married and their mother passed away. It did not matter how good of a father and provider the man was. Stanley was a good father who had been raising his children and wanted to continue to raise them even after the death of their mother.
Stanley eventually won his case and his children were returned to him. This case made it possible for involved fathers to continue raising their children after the death of a mother.