Venezia Michalsen, "Love is Not Enough: Mothering and Desistance After Incarceration"
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Program and Policy Recommendations

In sum, the results of this study show the overwhelming finding that respondents and their children have great love for one another, regardless of custody status. However, the practicalities of reentry—from housing and employment to interpersonal relationships—make reunification difficult, and sometimes, in the opinion of the mothers, ill-advised. For those who do reunify, there are difficulties, but it seems that these difficulties do not interfere with attachment; the quantitative results of the study show that attachment and desistance both increase with time spent with children, which, in turn, corresponds with co-habitation.

In the early twenty-first century, as fiscal crises force us to recognize that the great and expensive American prison experiment has failed to make us safer, there is a unique opportunity to make progressive, effective change in our criminal justice system. The results of this study suggest that a new focus on prevention, community corrections, facilitation of contact during incarceration, transitional planning, and reentry services will facilitate women's own lives and, in effect, their children's lives. Further, research has shown for years that children are better off with their own parents; this study shows that, when it comes to desistance, mothers are also better off with their children. Programs facilitating such contact, within the context of other practical supports, not only encourage better family relationships, but also encourage mothers' long-term success in the community.

As a community of individuals concerned about the smallest victims of the American prison system, we must widen our concern to include the parents, with whom children are usually best off, but who need practical help to make love be enough.

Works Cited

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Belknap, J. (2003). "Responding to the needs of women prisoners." In S. Sharp & R. Muraskin (Eds.), Female Prisoners in the United States: Programming Needs, Availability, and Efficacy (pp. 93-106). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bloom, B., Owen, B., & Covington, S. (2004). "Women Offenders and the Gendered Effects of Public Policy." Review of Policy Research, 21(1): 31-48.

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Covington, S. (2002). A Woman's Journey Home: Challenges for Female Offenders and Their Children." Paper prepared for the From Prison to Home Conference (January 30-31, 2002).

Dallaire, D. H. (2007). "Incarcerated Mothers and Fathers: A Comparison of Risks for Children and Families." Family Relations, 56: 440-453.

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Metraux, S., & Culhane, D. P. (2006). "Recent Incarceration History Among a Sheltered Homeless Population." Crime & Delinquency, 52(3): 504-517.

Michalsen, V. (2007). Going Straight for Her Children? Mother's Desistance after Incarceration. New York: Dissertation Abstracts International.

Miller, K. (2006). "The Impact of Parental Incarceration on Children: An Emerging Need for Effective Interventions." Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal,23: 472-486.

Mumola, C.J. (1999). Substance Abuse and Treatment, State and Federal Prisoners, 1997. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

O'Brien, P. (2002). Reducing Barriers to Employment for Women Ex-offenders: Mapping the Road to Reintegration. Chicago: SAFER Foundation Council of Advisors to Reduce Recidivism through Employment.

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Poehlmann, J. (2005). "Incarcerated Mothers' Contact with Children, Perceived Family Relationships and Depressive Symptoms." Journal of Family Psychology, 19: 350-357.

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Endnotes

1. Some material included here was previously published in Michalsen's Going Straight for Her Children? Women's Desistance After Incarceration (2007). [Return to text]

2. All names are pseudonyms. [Return to text]

3. When women are jailed at Riker's Island Jail in New York City, they are held in Rose M. Singer Center. [Return to text]

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