Mom and baby jail program sacrificed for safety

Breastfeeding has long been known as the optimal form of feeding a baby. In fact, it is reported that no other form of feeding equals the benefits that breastfeeding provides. However, due to unforeseen issues in B.C. prisons, those benefits will have to be brushed aside.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the representative for children and youth, in British Columbia, is fighting to ensure that mothers and their babies receive what is rightfully theirs.
"Concerns with respect to the increase in the prison population in terms of women inmates, and security issues. Those are the reasons that have been provided to me," Turpel-Lafond said about the cancellation of the Mom-and-Baby program, initiated in 2005, and cancelled this past April.
The research has been extensive regarding both the need for babies to breastfeed and the need for interaction.
The World Health Organization recommended that babies nurse on demand for up to two years. Of course, without a program in place to ensure that happens, some babies will have to nurse through alternative routes.
"I know as a representative, I'm working quite a bit with the minister of corrections and public safety and others to encourage them to make sure that there are appropriate programs for moms who are pregnant and happen to be going into the correctional system," said Turpel-Lafond.
"There are programs (available) if you're federally sentenced, but for those shorter provincial sentences I would like to there to be programs." if you're under two years. that could be implemented
A report from the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) gives many valid and compelling reasons to have a program in place, and the reasons are three-fold.
For children, breastfeeding supports optimal development and protects against acute and chronic illness.
For mothers, breastfeeding helps with recovery from pregnancy and childbirth and provides lifelong health advantages.
For society, breastfeeding provides a range of economic and environmental rewards.
As the USBC report states, breastfeeding is better for the environment as breast milk requires no packaging, no production, and no shipping.
The USBC report goes onto say that children that are breastfed go on to score higher on IQ tests and have better visual accuracy. More so, it explains that the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) goes down as well.
Turpel-Lafond noted that although the babies best interests are paramount, concern for the moms should not be overlooked either.
"Going in shackles to give birth (and) returning without a baby to a jail cell is a type of trauma that can really affect their recovery and rehabilitation for the long- term."
Turpel-Lafond also argued that many prisons have large Aboriginal populations inmates, who may have not had the best upbringing themselves.
"Many of them are vulnerable. They've experienced perhaps abuse and neglect in their own lives and are maybe really grappling with that in their early adulthood. It's really important to work with them and their babies," explained Turpel-Lafond, adding that because the moms are vulnerable they should be treated as patients and mothers instead of just inmates.
The USBC report states that breastfeeding mothers are less likely to develop ovarian and pre-menopausal breast cancers. Other benefits are that mothers are more likely to return to pre-pregnancy weight, and are usually less anxious than bottle-feeding mothers.
There are other like-minded programs in Canada, as well as elsewhere in the world that have found positive results.
"Mom-baby prison programs exist around the world. Some jurisdictions like Finland some of the children stay until (age) four. And they exist here. There's a women's healing lodge in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan," said Turpel-Lafond.
"Basically, around women's prison health, the system that's promoted as a system of excellence based on the research is lower security, strong infant development and attachment, and particularly recognizing that at birth the infant and the mom are one, they're physically one and you want to promote that."
Turpel-Lafond did express that not every situation is optimal to cultivate the mother-baby relationship.
"There may be some cases where it wouldn't be appropriate for the baby to be with mom. The mom might be dealing with some very significant drug addiction issues and even though she's in jail, maybe she doesn't have the capacity to deal with an infant," said Turpel-Lafond, adding that most situations are "very workable situations."
According to Turpel-Lafond in the best-case scenario she would like to see moms back in the community as soon as possible.
"Ideally, getting moms in the communities and supported would be the goal. We don't want to have children in jail, but for those women that need to be in some type of secured facility there could be a low-security appropriate sentence for them to make sure they're not separated from their babies."
It was also expressed that even the financial costs of maintaining the program were not valid enough to warrant the cancellation.
"You will still pay an enormous cost. You will pay for jails, you'll pay for emergency rooms, you'll pay for criminal justice, or in some instances these are victims of serious crimes later," said Turpel-Lafond.
"We're dealing with vulnerable women who not only deserve our support, but given the families and communities they come from, they require our support so that the next generation of children can be kept inside that kinship of family."
In response to the cancellation Cindy Rose, Public Affairs Bureau, Public Safety & Solicitor General stated, "the B.C. Corrections Branch no longer allows the practice as it cannot ensure the safety of infants in a custody setting."
She added that populations have doubled, and some of the inmates are of a violent nature; she further noted that the correctional staff is not trained to provide childcare supervision among the inmates.
"The corrections branch is in the process of implementing a new enhanced visiting policy for women with young children where they will be safe in a separate, supervised setting within the grounds," said Rose, adding that, when appropriate, they do advocate conditional sentences that allow expectant mothers to serve their sentences out in the community.