Taking babies from mothers in prison punishes the children
Georgia Straight
March 13, 2009
By Linda Korbin, executive director of the B.C. Association of Social Workers

The Alouette Correctional Centre, located in the Fraser Valley, is the only separate women’s prison in B.C. and is where more than 150 women are serving time or awaiting trial. Most have been jailed for relatively minor offences, and three-quarters of them serve sentences of less than three months. Until last year, the Alouette Mother-Baby program provided an option for new mothers to keep their babies with them until their release from custody. Between 2004 and 2008, 12 women gave birth and nine chose to keep their babies with them. …

So who is being “punished” by the cancellation of the program? The experts on early childhood development will tell you unequivocally it is the children. We know that separating babies from their mothers can lead to long-term problems for children, from attachment issues to emotional disorders.

…. The Elizabeth Fry Society, which has for 65 years worked with women and youth involved in the criminal justice system, is working with B.C. Corrections to seek out alternatives that would allow mothers to serve their sentence in the community and continue to raise their child. Such alternatives would benefit not only new mothers, but mothers of older children. According to Elizabeth Fry, two-thirds of jailed women are mothers and two-thirds are the sole caregiver to their child. …

Every day babies are born to mothers living in precarious circumstances — women who are living in poverty, who are victims of abuse, who are misusing drugs and alcohol, who are involved in crime — and whose babies face a rocky future.

… A more effective response is to create conditions that enable mothers to keep their children and raise them in a safe and healthy environment….

The B.C. Association of Social Workers strongly supports the reinstatement of this program.