Summary Wally Lamb’s book Couldn’t Keep it to Myself is a book that tells the stories of 11 different women who were (are) incarcerated in the York correctional institution. These women who’s stories were told, were women who had committed all sorts of crimes, from embezzlement to homicide in the first degree. Their stories include stories of their lives before prison, how the got to prison, and their lives in prison. There were common factors in some of the stories of the women who ended up incarcerated. One factor that spoke out to me was that in most of their lives, they had a man harm them in some way or neglect them.…
In the book “Doing Time Together- love and family in the shadow of the prison” by Megan Comfort, in chapter three and four was very precisely about how each women suffer with their husband ,or boyfriend being in prison. Therefore chapter four shows how each inmate considers jail their way of living, when they start calling it “home”. Otherwise they would have a very hard time adjusting their way of living, but not just for the inmate but for each wife that waits for them or visits them, hoping someday they can be a family again. Having to struggle by visiting them or even to wait for a simple call, it can be a real struggle and not just for them but for each kid that struggles to see their father. On daily basics the wife or girlfriend has…
The author also noted the impossible conditions faced by ex-convicts when they are released from prison. The author touched on the difficulties experienced by ex-convicts who have been incarcerated for much longer than necessary. She mentions that there is a great absence of fatherhood in the African-American community because a lot of fathers are being thrown into jail for unjust reasons. She goes further to explain the afterlife of men when they are released from prison.…
The article, “The Long Good-Bye: Mother's Day in Federal Prison", by Amanda Coyne discusses how her Mother’s day visit with her nephew to see her sister in Perkin, Illinois Federal Prison Camp. The focus of “Long Goodbye” is on the relationship of separated children and their incarcerated mothers. The women in federal prison were caught doing things for people whom they loved and had no idea what they were doing was illegal, or simply just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Coyne by citing Toby’s desire to be like his mom and his misunderstanding of whether or not she’s “good” or “bad” Coyne highlights the fact that families are effected by the mother and that when the mothers figure is absent, society loses a certain empathy…
From watching the film, I understand that women who are incarcerated do not receive the proper prenatal care in order to give birth to children. I feel that shackling an incarcerated mother to a hospital bed, when in labor, is cruel and unnecessary. Doing so has the potential to increase the risk of a child and/or mother to experience problems during birth. After hearing Tina Torrez’s experience when giving birth to her daughter as an inmate, it was clear the care inmate mothers receive is unacceptable when compared to the care mothers who are not labeled as inmates receive. Hearing her experience bothered me because of the fact that even though she was pregnant and giving birth, she was still treated as if she were not a human with physical and emotional feelings.…
Families and children are negatively impacted by the increased incarceration of women in America. “In the United States, there are more children with incarcerated parents than there are people in prison.” (Boudin, 2011) Women before incarceration, are frequently the heads of their households and have children that depend on them for financial stability and care. Studies show that the extended absence of incarcerated mothers from homes results in less stable environments for children when breadwinners are and children are left without support and guidance.…
Men and women all over the world face the consequence of going to prison for various crimes, and some once released, relapse back into criminal behavior, but others the ones willing to change and serve their time, return back to the world as a new person. The prison nursery program is where inmates have the capability to care for their newborn child. According to the three year study “after release 86.3% remained in the community.…
Mass Incarceration Mass incarceration is very unique problem to the United States that has been around for several years and seems to continue to grow by the years. In the book Mass Incarceration on Trial it is stated that, “The term mass incarceration was first used by specialists in the field of punishment and society to describe the tremendous changes in the scale of incarceration that began in the late 1970s…” (Simon 3). The fact that this term has been getting attention for almost forty six years comes to show how urgently this issue needs to be addressed. Mass incarceration is not only negatively impacting the prisoner himself, the prisoner’s family, but society as well.…
When faced with the difficult reality of mass incarceration, and the high rates of women of color incarcerated in our federal prison system, we are often left wondering what we as mere college students can do. While our position against this unjust reality seems very small, one of the things we can do is provide educational resources to women of color in prison by donating our old books – whether these be our old college textbooks or any. There is very strong evidence out there that suggests that prisoners that are allowed access to education resources while in prison are more likely to thrive once released, and their chance of being re-incarcerated is lowered. In an interview with NPR following the Obama administration’s step toward expanding access of the Pell grant to adult prisoners, Lois Davis of the RAND corporation (a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges) said that education is the centerpiece of an effective re-entry into society, and a better way to spend our tax dollars: “Education is a relatively low-cost program you can provide to inmates. But, when you look simply at direct…
Having a parent in prison can have an impact on a child’s mental health, social behavior, and educational prospects. Mass incarceration has had significant and long-lasting impacts on American society, and particularly on the children of the incarcerated. This paper will provide an outlook on why having a parent who is incarcerated has a negative effect on the child. I will begin by providing an estimate on exactly how many of those incarcerated are parents. Secondly the effects the incarceration has on the children and finally what the government is doing to help these children to not follow into their parent’s footsteps.…
“Results revealed that 51% of the fathers in the sample had been incarcerated by their child’s fifth birthday (Perry & Mikia, 2012).” Furthermore, fathers performed worse economically, were less involved with their children, and the children of incarcerated fathers possessed…
The population of women in American prisons is staggeringly high, more than any other country in the world. There could be many different aspects that lead women to have such a large prison population in the united states, more so than simply that America has a large population of women in general. One possible explanation could be that in America women are seen more as equals to men then in some other countries. With women being seen as just as capable as men judges may be less lenient on women then judges of other countries, giving them the same sentences as men. Another possibility could be that perhaps America doesn’t see women as equals to men, and expect women to fir certain roles within society.…
This qualitative study is based on a community-based assignment given to senior nursing students in a perinatal nursing course, that gave them the opportunity to meet and interact with incarcerated women around topics related to perinatal care. Although students thought…
Family members of prisoners suffer humiliation and embarrassment because of what a mate, sibling, or parent may have done to an innocent victim. Personally visiting a spouse or parent is experience because many prisons are located in remote areas. Also, family under go money loss every time they reach out to their loved one when they communicate by telephone. It is a documented fact that inmates who regularly correspond with their family members do well with reform programs offered to them through the penal system. Additionally, the convict's interaction gives them incentives and inspires them to stay on the positive path toward leaving prison and perhaps even an early release.…
These prisons can provide women what the outside world, ran by dominant white society, denies them of or makes extremely difficult to attain. This includes employment opportunities, food security, and shelter, all obtainable “without a welfare or Medicaid card” (268). Because many incarcerated women are low income, single mothers, prison allows them to escape these heavily pressured and scrutinized roles. Prisons can provide low paying jobs that allows women to support solely themselves, rather than for others, like their children, partner, or other family members as they normally would outside of prison (Women Behind Bars). However, outside these walls, women will also face gendered and racialized low pay wages, while most jobs also refuse to hire convicted felons.…