Bedford Hills and many others advocates argue for pregnant women to bond with their babies while imprisoned. Some critics believe that the cost of maintaining a childcare facility and the burden placed onto prison staff makes the argument faulty. Additionally, the concerns for the safety of the baby are rising, as many believe that the difficulties of these women would make them unjust to care for their baby.
From Naomi Schaefer Riley’s “Life Inside a Prison Nursery,” it states that babies under incarcerated supervision have a risk of traumatic effects due to “disciplinary action against a mother that might result in her removal from the program, a health problem for a baby, or simply the fact that a mother’s sentence is longer than the baby is allowed to stay.” The potential separation matches poorly with the secure attachment the baby holds with the mother as the baby would have no interactions with other adults. Also, memories from the baby can lead to “bringing them a kind of shame that is unnecessary and difficult to escape.”
Stephanie Covington, co-director of the Center for Gender and Justice, states that “A baby doesn’t know it’s in prison. A baby knows it’s with its mother.” The Bedford Hills nursery gives mothers some free time to interact with their child, usually conversing with other mothers to develop and understand parenting skills for future usage. Lindsay Landon, who learned of the nursery, embarked and got the opportunity to see her baby everyday for 10 months, watching him develop while strengthening the bond held between each other. Studies show that children raised with their mother in prison had comparable rates of secureness with those who lived with families on the outside. Bedford Hills found that women under the nursery program had a lower recidivism rate than all other incarcerated women.
Keeping families intact despite the mother being incarcerated brings benefits to both child and mother, as they continue developing a secure relationship with one another and prepare themselves for when they are released. The thought of a prison caring for children is being disputed for the cost and safety of the operation, but as Landon states: “It’s more important for the babies to be with the mom.”
Works Cited:
- “Prison Nurseries Give Incarcerated Mothers a Chance to Raise Their Babies – behind Bars.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/prison-nurseries-give-incarcerated-mothers-chance-raise-their-babies-behind-n894171
Riley, Naomi Schaefer. “Life inside a Prison Nursery.” Institute for Family Studies, 10 Apr. 2019, https://ifstudies.org/blog/life-inside-a-prison-nursery.
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