The vicious circle of social injustice: A Study on the impact of maternal imprisonment

• In Event: Prisoners' Families: International Perspectives

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of maternal imprisonment and considers how the concept of social justice and its practice is present or absent in the lives of the children affected. A high percentage of the women in prison in England and Wales have suffered from abuse or violence, mental health problems and drug or alcohol dependencies. This paper suggests that their children are likely to have experienced social injustice, in the form of poverty and instability, prior to their imprisonment. The act of sentencing their primary carer to a custodial term without, in many cases, any consideration of their needs, leads to multiple changes and risk factors in their lives including changes of home, school, carer, and separation from siblings. They become disadvantaged educationally and financially.

Author

• Shona Minson, University of Oxford