Mothers in Custody and the Punishment of Children
| Date | 01 September 1989 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058903600303 |
| Published date | 01 September 1989 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
106
Mothers
in
Custody
and
the
Punishment
of
Children
Sheila
White,
Senior
Probation
Officer
in
York,
who
recently
finished
her
secondment
to
Askham
Grange
Prison,
considers
the
price
exacted
on
the
children
of
women
sentenced
to
imprisonment
and
the
distortion
of
family
relationships,
caused
either
by
loss
of
their
mother
or,
for
a
minority,
by
becoming
fellow
prisoners.
ost
recent
statistics
on
women
prisoners
with
children
record
719
mothers
with
a
total
of
1649
dependent
children.
Society
and
sentencing
policy
appears
complacent
about
the
punitive
impact
upon
these
children.
Recent
recorded
cases
include
judges
who
will
not
impose
community
service
orders on
pregnant
wotnen
but
are
quite
happy
to
send
them
to
prison
where
’they
will
get
excellent
medical
care’
and
magistrates,
so
convinced
that
women
have
brought
their
babies
to
court
in
order
to
pressurise
the
sentencers
that
they
seem
almost
predisposed
to
impose
a
sentence
of
°&dquo;&dquo;
imprisonment.
v .
There
are
three
Mother
and
Baby
units,
at
Holloway,
Styal
and
Askham
Grange
providing
39
places
in
total.
These
house
children
only
up
to
the
max-
imum
age
of
18
months
in
the
case
of
Askham
Grange, 9
months
at
Holloway
and
Styal.
Units
thus
provide
only
a
very
small
number
of
places
for
very
young
children.
However
hard
staff
may
try,
a
Unit
cannot
be
made
to
resemble
a
normal
outside
environment.
The
babies
lead
an
artificial
life,
having
little
contact
with
men,
older
children
or
the
out-
side
world.
There
is
no
opportunity
to
form
relationships
with
father,
grand-
parents
or
other
relatives.
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