Putting Babies First: Supportive Choices for Mother and Baby Units

Abstract

Babies have been living in prisons for centuries and yet there is a dearth of literature which examines their conditions. The first known baby in prison was Henry Kable Junior (born in Norwich Castle Gaol (England) in February 1786), he lived with his mother in Norwich Castle Gaol until he and his parents were all transported to Australia. The problem persists that babies are living within prisons. Mother and baby units are presented as a solution; however, these living arrangements are not always in the best interests of children. There are no internationally consistent conditions, agreement on the age of separation or discussion about the possible choices for those who are supporting infants living in mother and baby units. It is difficult to conceive that there could be any other way of dealing with women who have young babies and it is this difficulty that has led to the creation and longevity of mother and baby units.The first section of this article provides an overview of the most salient representations of babies in prison during the current year and its COVID-19 pandemic. I will explain how a theory called, ‘supportive choices’, can be applied by prison administrations, criminal justice institutions and activists. Encouraging supportive choices is an original theoretical framework to explain that rather than re-writing legislation a first step would be that the ‘best interests of the child’ should be used as a justification for change. Inevitably a theoretical framework will have problems when translated into practice, however the intention is to provide a starting point for the transformation of policies or practices that have the intended (or unintended) consequence of putting the interests of women before their babies.