Maternal incarceration in a provincial prison in Canada: A qualitative study

• Published in: Journal of advanced nursing Vol. 78; no. 7; pp. 2123 - 2138
• Main Authors: Paynter, Martha, Heggie, Clare, Matheson, Lauren, Rillie, Claire, Beals, Dominica, Bray, Mirinda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2022; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Children; Criminal sentences; Criminalization; Emotional distress; Human rights; Imprisonment; Maternal & child health; maternal health services; maternal‐child nursing; Mental health; Mothers; Parents & parenting; Prisoners; prisons; Psychological distress; Qualitative research; reproductive health; reproductive rights; Research methodology; Canada; maternal health services; prisoners; reproductive rights; reproductive health; maternal-child nursing; prisons
• ISSN: 0309-2402; 1365-2648
• DOI: 10.1111/jan.15154

Aims To explore the experiences of provincially incarcerated mothers in Nova Scotia, Canada; and to make recommendations with respect to improving the experiences of mothers facing criminalization and their children. Design This qualitative study is rooted in feminist standpoint theory, community‐based research methodologies and prison abolition. Methods Mothers who were currently or previously incarcerated were recruited by community partners. Between Fall 2021 and Winter 2022, 14 individual interviews and one focus group were conducted, for a total of 18 study participants. Data were analysed collaboratively using thematic analysis. Results Three key themes were developed through the data analysis: Maintaining Connection, Broken Bonds and The Damage. Mothers shared experiences of trying to maintain connections with their children through numerous challenges, including emotional distress caused by the separation and significant logistical and financial barriers. Mothers felt their children unfairly bore the burden of their incarceration. They experienced a lack of or outright denial of services while incarcerated, and a lack of transitional support on release, making working towards parenting again difficult and discouraging. Conclusion For participants in our study, separation from their children during incarceration caused severe emotional distress and had serious implications on their right to parent and their relationships with their children. Incarceration for even brief periods has detrimental social impacts, and release planning does not prepare people for the challenges of repairing that damage. Conditions of maternal incarceration are in violation of international human rights laws. Impact Although we make some recommendations for reform (e.g. free phone calls), we focus on alternatives to incarceration for mothers experiencing criminalization. Findings will be shared with relevant institutional partners with the goal of impacting sentencing and incarceration practices.