Crecer con Padres entre Rejas

Few things are as disturbing as realizing that there are children who spend the first years of their lives in a prison, in the company of their convict mothers. So it is not surprising that this situation gives rise to a permanent debate among those who are variously responsible for criminal and social policies.

In Spain, the General Penitentiary Act allows female inmates to keep their offspring up to age three in prison with them. In December 2010, more than 200 children were in this situation – of Spain’s total prison population of 74,655, eight percent are women.

The pursuit of their welfare, while ensuring that prison terms are effectively served, has led to a search for all kinds of solutions to improve the mothers’ imprisonment conditions with an increase in the amount of freedom and the stimuli that a minor needs to avoid impairment of his or her physical, psychological and emotional development.

For these reasons, since the 80s our program has strived to implement alternatives to incarceration by enhancing the potentialities of different open prison systems such as electronic monitoring, or a small group of Subordinate Units (small homes for inmates under an intermediate prison regimen) for less serious offenders.

In the case of women who are not directly eligible for these programs, there are specific structures such as the Mothers’ Units (special modules inside the penitentiary centers but architecturally separated from the rest and adapted to children’s requirements); a Family Module (where both members of a couple who are serving their respective sentences can raise their children together); and children’s schools duly equipped and staffed with professionals.

But these units inside prison buildings lack sufficient outdoor spaces, which prevents a proper freedom of movements, and are governed by regulations that are largely analogous to those of the rest of the modules, and therefore markedly restrictive. Considering that we are dealing with the most vulnerable segment of the population, it becomes necessary to permanently renew efforts to improve their situation.

For this reason, a new residential model called Outside Units for Mothers2 has been devised with the political commitment of the current head of the General Secretariat for Penitentiary Institutions, to the effect that “female inmates reside with their children outside the penitentiary premises”. There are six of these new constructions, which will be detached from the penitentiary centers, and administratively autonomous so that they can establish specific living arrangements.

In 2004 I led a group of experts entrusted with its creation. Every structural component was designed to cover the special needs of the population targeted by these Units. This is why it was important to also have the opinion of the people involved, i.e. the prospective users. Two of these Units (one in Palma de Mallorca and another in Seville) are already in operation, and the Madrid Unit will open within the next few weeks.

Children live in these units under the same conditions as they would in a free environment. First, because there is nothing in the attractive outside appearance of these buildings that is suggestive of a prison environment (police surveillance is replaced with discreet security measures, and from the room windows one can see the cars and the flow of everyday life outside). Inside, the small apartments made available to each woman and her offspring allow for the necessary family privacy for feeding, bathing and playing. Spacious educational areas, the playground and sitting rooms have been designed to provide a harmonious coexistence among the resident women.

The possibilities for the mothers to leave the unit to take their children to school, to the doctor or to recreational areas, are thus gradually enhanced. They too make use of community resources to improve their education, learn a trade or seek employment. And all this is supplemented with other activities, such as the parenting school, aimed at improving the mother-child relationship.

In short, our experience throughout the two years of operation of the first Unit has made it possible for us to confirm a significant progress in the stabilized and harmonious development of those children who have optimal facilities for mitigating the disadvantages or the possible negative consequences of their mothers’ sentences. This has also been corroborated by the schools where the children receive their elementary education. But, in addition, and thanks to the intense socio-educational training received by their mothers during this period, following their release from prison many of them already enjoy a working and family autonomy, so that the time served in prison has been useful for them to definitively break the chain of social exclusion.

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