Ø                   Like poverty, imprisonment disproportionately affects women of color.  About 73% of Illinois women prisoners are women of color, and up to 90% of women in Cook County Jail are African American.  In 2002 more than five time as many African Americans as whites were sentenced to prison for drug possession in Illinois.  Illinois incarcerates 45 per 100,000 African Americans for drug possession, but 7.9 whites per 100,000, although rates of drug use are similar for both groups.  The impact of this racial disparity on families is unconscionable.

Ø                   Both childhood and adult histories of abuse are strongly correlated with drug use among women.  A 1994 study reported that 80% of women prisoners had experienced physical and sexual abuse, often beginning in childhood. 

Ø                   Women’s incarceration for drug offenses increased more than 5,000% between 1983 and 2002.  The Illinois Department of Corrections estimates that 80% of women prisoners need drug treatment, but it is available to only 16% of them.  More than 60% of women entering prison have not attained a high school diploma.

Ø                   Rates of HIV infection are much higher in the prison population than in the general population.  At year-end 2000, 3.6% of female state prison inmates were HIV-positive, compared to 2.2% of males.  Prisoners in Illinois are paid as little as $15 per month for prison assignments but they must pay $2 for each doctor visit in prison.

MOTHERS IN PRISON

Ø             About 82.5% of women incarcerated in Illinois are mothers.  Nationwide, women under correctional supervision are mothers of an estimated 1.3 million minor children.  More than 10 million children have had a parent imprisoned at some point in their lives.  More than 60,000 children in Illinois will have their mothers spend time in a state prison at some point while they are growing up.  Many mothers were their children’s sole caretakers before arrest.

Ø             Nearly 90% of fathers in prison in the U.S. report that their children live with the mothers; only 28% of incarcerated mothers report that their children are being cared for by the fathers.

Ø             In FY 2003, 88 babies were born to mothers in the custody of Dwight Correctional Center.  Nationwide, about 5% of women are pregnant when they enter prison and another 15% have babies less than six weeks old.  Newborns are separated from imprisoned mothers within a day or two of birth, missing the crucial, irretrievable period of mother-child bonding, which affects development for the rest of their lives.

Ø             Studies demonstrate that regular visits between children in foster care and their mothers enhance the children’s emotional, scholastic, and social adjustment to placement.  Numerous studies show that family contact has a strong, positive impact on parole success when the mother is released.

Ø             When a mother goes to prison, it is her children who suffer most.  Studies link parental incarceration with problems including poor school performance, aggression, emotional problems, and post-traumatic stress.  Young children may be severely traumatized by the sudden separation from their mothers, resulting in developmental delays and later problems.  Children commonly experience sadness, anger, confusion, grief or depression due to the separation.

Ø                    84% of mothers in federal prisons and 64% of mothers in state prisons lived with their children before arrest.  When they are released, they face multiple barriers to reuniting their families, reintegrating into their communities, and obtaining stable employment and housing.

Ø           According to DCFS, the median length of stay for children in foster care in 2001 was 40.4 months, the longest in the nation.  The rate of parent-child reunification is only 28%, the lowest in the nation when compared to states with similar populations, in part due to lack of reunification services, a particular problem for mothers in jail and prison. 

Ø          Incarcerated parents in Illinois are targets for swift termination of their parental rights, which leads to a long-term intergenerational cycle of foster care and incarceration.  Children of imprisoned mothers who go into state foster homes may be separated from brothers and sisters, moved to a series of foster homes, and denied visits with their mothers.  Foster care workers often fail to provide mandated visits and services.  There is little coordination or continuity of services. An estimated one in four children in the Illinois foster care system are abused in their foster homes.  Foster children have an increased risk of delinquency in adolescence and homelessness in adulthood.

Ø                  Maternal imprisonment affects future generations:  children's psychological health and sense of family are severely damaged by the separation from their mothers.  Increasingly, families are destroyed forever through termination of parental rights, permanently cutting off the mother-child bond even if nobody adopts the children.   Illinois in particular has targeted prisoners for destruction of their families through legal severance of family ties, so that the children and mothers have no further communication, visits or even information about each other's welfare. 

Sources

Blumstein, A. and Wallman, J., eds., The Crime Drop in America. Cambridge Press, 2000.

Schiraldi, V.,  Ziedenberg, J., The Punishing Decade: Prison and Jail Estimates at the Millennium. Justice Policy Institute, 1999.

Illinois Department of Corrections (hereinafter IDOC), Statistical Presentation and IDOC Office of Planning and Research; IDOC Office of Planning and Research. 2001, 2003; www.idoc.state.il.us/ Dwight Correctional Center May, 2005.

Harrison, Paige and Beck, Allen, Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin Prisoners in 2002. NCJ 200248. July 2003

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States 2002. Section IV: Persons Arrested. 2002.

Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Surveys (The National Probation Data Survey, National Prisoner Statistics, Survey of Jails, and The National Parole Data Survey) as presented in Correctional Populations in the United States. BJS. November 28, 2000.

Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Unlocking Options for Women.  April 2002.

LaLonde, Robert J. and George, Susan M., Incarcerated Mothers:  The Chicago Project on Female Prisoners and Their Children.

The Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago. June 2002

Human Rights Watch, Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs. Vol. 12, No. 2 (G). May 2000.

McClellan, D., Farabee, D. and Crouch, B., “Early Victimization, Drug Use, and Criminality” in Criminal Justice and Behavior. 1997.

Bloom, B. and Covington, S., Gender-Specific Programming for Female Offenders: What is It and Why Is It Important? American Society of Criminology, November 1998.

Maruschak, Laura M., HIV in Prisons, 2000. Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, NCJ 196023. October 2002.

Kathleen Kane-Willis, Jennifer Janichek and Daniel Clark, Intersecting Voices: Impacts of Illinois’ Drug Policies, The Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, The Institute for Metropolitan Affairs, Roosevelt University, 2006.

Greenfeld, Lawrence A. & Snell, Tracy L., Women Offenders. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, NCJ 175688.

December 1999

Hirsch, Amy, et al.,  Every Door Closed: Barriers Facing Parents With Criminal Records, Center For Law And Social Policy. 2002

Mumola, C., Incarcerated Parents and Their Children.  Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, NCJ 182335.  November 2000.

Bowlby, J., Attachment and Loss, New York: Basic Books. 1969.

Hairston, C.F., Mothers in jail: Parent-child separation and jail visitation.  Affilia, 6(2), 9-27, 1991

Kampfner, C., Post Traumatic Stress reactions in children of incarcerated mothers, in K. Gabel and D. Johnston, (Eds.),

Children of Incarcerated Parents. New York: Lexington Books. 1995.

Parke, R. and Clarke-Stewart, K.A., Effects of Parental Incarceration on Young Children. U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services.  January 2002.

Karen, R., M.D., Becoming Attached: Unfolding the Mystery of the Infant-Mother Bond and Its Impact on Later Life. Warner Books, 1994.

Krisberg, Barry A., The Plight of Children Whose Parents Are in Prison. National Council on Crime and Delinquency. 2001.

750 Illinois Compiled Statutes, 50/0.01 §1(D)(a) et seq.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 2004.

© 2007 Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers.  Use with permission only.