Female Prisoners and Mother-Child Separation 329female prisoners. These women are allowed to live with their young children
throughout the length of their sentence. However, they must participate in parental
education courses and community service, and they are offered opportunities for
job training and continuing education (Gifford, 1992).
Most programs which allow children to live with their mothers in prison have
been developed for only very young children. There have been attempts to create
other options for older children through visitation programs. Having children visit
their mothers is viewed as an important ingredient to maintaining attachment bonds
(Adalist-Estrin, 1994). Despite this, there are still few initiatives which provide
visitation for children on a consistent basis (M. C. Moses, 1995). However, some
alternatives that have been developed include expanded visitations, longer visitation
hours, and overnight to week-long visits (Adalist-Estrin, 1994).
One of these types of programs is offered to children ages 5 to 12. Once a
week, specified drivers take the children to have contact visits with their mothers
in the correctional institution. One negative aspect of this program is that it may
exclude one or more children in a family from visiting their mother (Falk, 1995).
In Nebraska, the Mother-Offspring Life Development Program provides an op-
portunity for older children to have overnight visits with their mother within the
correctional facility (Hromadka, 1995). Another unique project involves Girl Scout
meetings within the correctional facility. This program was implemented in 1992,
and daughters ages 5 to 13 meet with their mothers for two Saturdays every month
and hold a Girl Scout meeting. This provides longer visiting hours and a chance for
mothers to participate in their daughters' lives (M. C. Moses, 1995). These various
initiatives represent what has been developed thus far in an attempt to decrease the
negative effects of separation due to incarceration for both children and mothers.
Forensic Psychology and Policy Implications
Although efforts have been made to improve programs for children and their incar-
cerated mothers, there are still many issues that remain unresolved. For instance, as
Falk (1995) pointed out, because of their restrictions, many of these projects exclude
one or more children of the same family from visiting their mother. This could cre-
ate a new set of problems for the family. It may be unreasonable for all of a woman's
children to live with her in the prison, but programs should be developed where
all the children in one family can visit their mother for extended periods of time.
Since incarcerated wromen have suggested that being separated from their chil-
dren is the most difficult aspect of their confinement, support services designed
specifically to assist them adjust to this separation should be developed further
(Hairston, 1991b). Annie would have benefitted greatly from assistance on how to
cope with being separated from her child. Psychologists can play an active role in
this arena. Psychologists can also work with correctional staff and facilities on how
best to implement and run programs where children live within the prison. Not