Prison Nursery Program Analysis

Currently, more than 5 million children have had at least one parent behind bars. In the increasingly high statistic of mass incarceration, specifically targeting people of color, it is no wonder those 5 million children come from minority households. The numbers continue to swell due to the toughening of mandatory sentencing and drug laws. Parents may commit and be guilty of certain crimes and be worthy of the consequences, but must children pay for the crimes as well? In 11 states within the United States, the option of a prison nursery program is offered to incarcerated women with children. Since it is a program, there is a certain criteria incarcerated women must meet, in order to keep their child with them while they serve time. There …show more content…
There are numerous aspects of the program that have issues, but also have the ability to change the future course of the relationship between child and parent. To begin with, the application process of these programs can be extremely selective and the people who can simply apply is very narrow. Of the current 12 nursery programs for incarcerated mothers in the country, they all have their own requirements and criteria in selecting which mothers are deemed fit, by their standards, to have a role in raising their young children (Dept). On average, the program requirements are as follow: cannot be convicted of a violent offense or crimes against children, screened extensively for mental and behavioral issues, tested for substance abuse, excellent record as an inmate, children must not have medical issues, and attend parenting classes. Overall, the program requirements, for the most part, are definitely worthy in critiquing whether or not the incarcerated mothers should raise their children in prison—but, there are some …show more content…
While the thought of incarcerated mothers and women being incarcerated when pregnant are not thoughts that generally appear in people’s minds when it comes the prison population, both are important aspects of the prison system. The truth is, the United States is home to the highest incarceration rate in the world, with twenty-five percent of the prisoners, yet the country only holds five percent of the global population (Babies). The rate in which women are being sentenced to prison is only becoming higher and the issues regarding pregnancies and motherhood within prisons will only become more popular, as the rate of women incarceration becomes higher (Goshin). Whether or not prison nursery programs are ethical will make no difference to the bonds being created between the parent and