Bringing up a baby in prison....

[Urchin]

I just came across this on the BBC news site

clicky

What do you make of this?

I know it's good to bond and stuff but I don't know if I could live with the guilt of having my baby live in prison for their first few months.

 

[laetitia85]

I suppose the good points about bringing up a baby in prison is that they create an environment similar to that of a nursery school or creche. I have seen it on TV before, there is a specific area for them to play in, a bit like in a creche. there are lots of toys and the area is quite spacious so the babies don't feel too clostrophobic. Plus they can play with other kids as well.
But God, I don't wish this upon anybody.

 

[budge]

well i think its ok.

Depends what the mother is in prison for though.

I expect some of the conditions the children are bought out of make the prison seem like a palace.

 

[lisa&alex]

im kinda not sure on this one.. the emotional difficulties for mother and baby at seperation must be so severe.. i can imagine it doing a lot more harm than good in the long run.. however..

you wont ever get the early months of a babys life back.. so im pretty much not sure on it..

 

[mummykay]

i think it is a horrible thing to happen to a mum but why are pregnant women commiting crimes knowin full well they could get caught and therefore their poor child has to live in a prison for the first 18mths?????

if u ask me, havin a baby seems a lot cushier in prison than some poorer families have to while keeping within the law - 1 girl said that she could take her baby dwn to the creche to have the staff settle the baby while she went to bed - sounds alright doesnt it??

 

[budge]

im kinda not sure on this one.. the emotional difficulties for mother and baby at seperation must be so severe.. i can imagine it doing a lot more harm than good in the long run.. however..

you wont ever get the early months of a babys life back.. so im pretty much not sure on it..

i think it depends on individual cases doesn't it . Im sure they wouldn't continue contact between mother and child if it wasn't in the childs best niterests. but then again - some of these high powered so called child protection officers are full of shit.

 

[laetitia85]

if u ask me, havin a baby seems a lot cushier in prison than some poorer families have to while keeping within the law - 1 girl said that she could take her baby dwn to the creche to have the staff settle the baby while she went to bed - sounds alright doesnt it??

so basically they're not being taught how to be proper mums? cuz once they get out in the real world no one's gonna do that for them

 

[mummykay]

exactly Laetitia, as soon as the baby hits 18mths they go2 the next of kin in the free world so it could be months or yrs by the time the mum is released and by then, the baby is in a routine with familiar faces and the mum is a stranger

of course theyre not gonna learn anythin constructive havin facilities where they dnt have to tend to their baby - and its the baby who misses out on precious time with their jailbird mum

 

[zebrastripes]

nr

 

[laetitia85]

"Mothers must be drugs-free and demonstrate their suitability to be there. "

I'm taking this to mean that the women and children who will benefit from this aren't complete hopeless cases.After all,prison isn't just for punishment: it's meant to also to teach the prisoners not to re-offend.I think schemes like this could be helpful with that:after all didn't it say one girl was learning cooking skills so she could get a job in the outside world after release?

As for letting the staff settle the baby:well mums in jail get just as tired as mums who aren't,only they don't have the help and support most people do.So why shouldn't the staff settle the baby now and again?

Personally,prison is prison,horrible no matter how nice it is inside.I don't really think you can judge any of these women unles you know the personal circumstances.After all,a mother will love her child no matter if she's a jailbird or what

i hope you know that we weren't judging anybody.

 

[libs]

These women may not have committed crimes whilst pregnant - cases can take a long time to come to court. And as Zebrastripes says you may not know what they are imprisoned for - don't forget women get imprisoned for not paying their tv licence or council tax every day.

The support is just to take the baby for a while if they've had a bad night - do none of your OH's or mums or friends do this? Do you consider yourself not a proper mum if someone takes your baby to give you a few hours break? Well hi then my names Libs and I'm not a proper mum as when my DS was little my mum would occasionally take him for an hour if I was exhausted to let me sleep. Oh - and this week I've stopped two of my sisters being proper mums by having their babies for an hour to give them a break.

Would it be better to whisk a baby away at birth, possibly into foster care than to let a baby make a bond with it's mother? Prison whilst being a punishment is also about rehabilitation and support to enable these women to become mothers and part of society is surely part of rehabilitation.

 

[zebrastripes]

"Mothers must be drugs-free and demonstrate their suitability to be there. "

I'm taking this to mean that the women and children who will benefit from this aren't complete hopeless cases.After all,prison isn't just for punishment: it's meant to also to teach the prisoners not to re-offend.I think schemes like this could be helpful with that:after all didn't it say one girl was learning cooking skills so she could get a job in the outside world after release?

As for letting the staff settle the baby:well mums in jail get just as tired as mums who aren't,only they don't have the help and support most people do.So why shouldn't the staff settle the baby now and again?

Personally,prison is prison,horrible no matter how nice it is inside.I don't really think you can judge any of these women unles you know the personal circumstances.After all,a mother will love her child no matter if she's a jailbird or what

i hope you know that we weren't judging anybody.

I know you weren't.I was more just musing,because at first i sort of thought "how on earth would you be stupid enough to get into prision while pregnant" but then I thought about it,and what if the mum had, I don't know,nearly murdered her husband because he'd been beating her up or something?And was now in jail for attempted murder?

I wasn't having a go at anyone

 

[zebrastripes]

These women may not have committed crimes whilst pregnant - cases can take a long time to come to court. And as Zebrastripes says you may not know what they are imprisoned for - don't forget women get imprisoned for not paying their tv licence or council tax every day.

The support is just to take the baby for a while if they've had a bad night - do none of your OH's or mums or friends do this? Do you consider yourself not a proper mum if someone takes your baby to give you a few hours break? Well hi then my names Libs and I'm not a proper mum as when my DS was little my mum would occasionally take him for an hour if I was exhausted to let me sleep. Oh - and this week I've stopped two of my sisters being proper mums by having their babies for an hour to give them a break.

Would it be better to whisk a baby away at birth, possibly into foster care than to let a baby make a bond with it's mother? Prison whilst being a punishment is also about rehabilitation and support to enable these women to become mothers and part of society is surely part of rehabilitation.

Yep,that's basically what i mean,only put much better

 

[budge]

"Mothers must be drugs-free and demonstrate their suitability to be there. "

I'm taking this to mean that the women and children who will benefit from this aren't complete hopeless cases.After all,prison isn't just for punishment: it's meant to also to teach the prisoners not to re-offend.I think schemes like this could be helpful with that:after all didn't it say one girl was learning cooking skills so she could get a job in the outside world after release?

As for letting the staff settle the baby:well mums in jail get just as tired as mums who aren't,only they don't have the help and support most people do.So why shouldn't the staff settle the baby now and again?

Personally,prison is prison,horrible no matter how nice it is inside.I don't really think you can judge any of these women unles you know the personal circumstances.After all,a mother will love her child no matter if she's a jailbird or what

i hope you know that we weren't judging anybody.

I know you weren't.I was more just musing,because at first i sort of thought "how on earth would you be stupid enough to get into prision while pregnant" but then I thought about it,and what if the mum had, I don't know,nearly murdered her husband because he'd been beating her up or something?And was now in jail for attempted murder?

I wasn't having a go at anyone

yes thats exactly what i thought. at first my reaction was ''fooking smack heads!! take the babies iff them and throw away the key!!''

then i got to thinking about wHY they were in prison. Maybe their pimps set them up or maybe they just didn't pay their council tax and couldn't afford to pay the fine.

 

[mummykay]

i wasnt havin a dig at anyone, maybe the way i worded it was a bit mean - apologies all!

there was a pregnant woman nickin cars in our area who was 8mths gone, she was arrested but i dunno what happened to her

 

[zebrastripes]

Exactly,and if that's the case I certainly wouldn't begrudge them spending the tie with their baby,and the prison facilities etc

 

[zebrastripes]

i wasnt havin a dig at anyone, maybe the way i worded it was a bit mean - apologies all!

there was a pregnant woman nickin cars in our area who was 8mths gone, she was arrested but i dunno what happened to her

I know i shouldn't laugh but

 

[budge]

Exactly,and if that's the case I certainly wouldn't begrudge them spending the tie with their baby,and the prison facilities etc

thing is - would they be serving an 18 month + prison sentence for anything trivial

 

[zebrastripes]

Hmm,no idea,maybe if they hadn't paid their counciltax a good few times?

 

[mummykay]

we all know the sentancing in this country is a joke, they probably let murderers and rapists out earlier than mums who have forgotten to pay their council tax