Alternatives to Mother-Child Incarceration Required
Wellness Within has read the annual report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI), released November 1st, with interest and concern. We are particularly focused on the report’s remarks on the Mother Child Program, with which we engage as volunteer doulas and advocates for the rights of people- and children- in prisons. In theory, the Mother Child Program allows some imprisoned mothers to have their young children reside with them either full or part time. In practice, we have found this program is barely used. The OCI reqort validates our observations: Although most incarcerated women are mothers, and on a given day there are 700 women incarcerated in the federal system, in the past twenty years there have only been 154 applications to the program.
Wellness Within shares the concerns about the Mother Child Program outlined in the OCI’s report. In our work with criminalized pregnant people, we too have observed that the program lacks evaluation, is not evidence-based, and has such restrictive eligibility criteria that is available to only a handful of women who are disproportionately non-Indigenous.
Women are the fastest growing population in prisons in Canada, with the number of federally sentenced women increasing from 16.3% from 2010 to 2019 (Public Safety Canada). We agree with the OCI that separating mothers from their children has devastating long-term impacts on families. Increasing investment in the Mother Child Program is not the best way to respond to maternal incarceration. We urge policy makers invest in alternatives to incarceration that keep children with their parents while tackling the root causes of criminalization of women, transgender and non-binary parents.
Wellness Within is a registered non-profit organization working for reproductive justice, prison abolition, and health equity in K'jipuktuk, Mi'kma'ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia).
Contact: Dr. Martha Paynter, Wellness Within Director of Research, martha.paynter@gmail.com, 9022927082