Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

There is a growing literature on the impact of imprisonment on the children of
prisoners. Kingi (1999) reported the extensive behavioural and emotional
effects on children of imprisoned women in New Zealand. Children can face a
range of developmental risks, including „attachment disorders and
disorganization in infants and toddlers, academic problems for school-aged
children, and delinquency and behaviors that may place adolescents at risk
for incarceration‟ (Craig, 2009:48).
The Corrections (Mothers and Babies) Amendment Act 2008 extended the
period of time that some mothers can keep their babies with them in prison to
24 months. This extension is dependent upon, among other things, the
mandatory consideration of the child‟s best interests and the provision of
appropriate facilities. In a recent Corrections report, almost 60% of 258
female prisoners approved of these provisions (Kingi et al, 2008). They
highlighted that these provisions would assist bonding between the child and
mother, and maintain continuity of care for those serving shorter sentences.
The Act does not come into force until appropriate facilities are available.
New facilities are still required to meet the development needs of older
children (that is, children between the ages of 9-24 months). Current facilities
are considered unsuitable for children over the age of nine months. Pending
the upgrading of facilities (expected to take place in 2011-12), a change to the
Corrections Regulations (r170) has enabled children up to the age of nine
months to remain with their mother in prison.
A number of children are also born to female prisoners. The Minister of
Corrections stated that between September 2008 and November 2009, 17
prisoners gave birth (Collins, 2009c). The Minister also stated that all eligible
mothers wanting their child or children to stay with them in prison, up until
aged nine months, had been permitted to do so, noting that sentenced female
prisoners spend an average of six months in prison.
To address concerns around mothers in prison, some European countries,
such as Germany, now use „half-way houses‟ where women are placed in
community-based accommodation. During the day, the women will access
prison education, training and support while their children attend community
nursery. During the evening and night, they must stay in the house. This
approach minimises the harm of separation, and minimises any negative
impact of the prison setting on children (Codd, 2008).
Stripsearches
Overseas literature has continued to detail the nature and use of
stripsearching in women‟s prisons. In Northern Ireland, Scraton and Moore
(2007) established that relevant standards and practices amounted to
breaches of human rights legislation. In the Australian context, McCulloch
and George (2009) have detailed the excessive use of strip searches (such
that, during 2001-2002, there were 18,889 strip searches in a prison
accommodating 200 women). They observe that these practices were
particularly humiliating to a population in which many have suffered previous
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