Mitchell M A, Yeturu S K, Appel J M
Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY, 10029, United States.
J Bioeth Inq. 2024 Oct 2. doi: 10.1007/s11673-024-10390-8.
Rising rates of female incarceration within the United States are incompatible with the lack of federal standards outlining the rights of incarcerated mothers and their children. A robust body of evidence demonstrates that prison nurseries, programmes designed for mothers to keep their infants under their care during detainment or incarceration, provide essential and beneficial care that could not otherwise be achieved within the current carceral infrastructure. These benefits include facilitation of breastfeeding, bonding during a critical period of child development, and decreased recidivism rates for participants. Legal precedent exists to support the rights of the mother to continue to parent their child but remains in stark opposition to current prison infrastructure that could allow them to do so. Existing state policies also have inconsistent mechanisms for determining child eligibility and should move to centre decision-making on a case-by-case basis. This work will demonstrate that a just society, supported by law and ensuring maternal-child welfare supports the establishment of prison nursery programmes as a part of the existing right to healthcare for incarcerated individuals.
美国女性监禁率不断上升，这与缺乏概述被监禁母亲及其子女权利的联邦标准不相容。大量证据表明，监狱托儿所，即旨在让母亲在拘留或监禁期间照顾其婴儿的项目，提供了至关重要且有益的照料，而这在当前的监禁设施中无法实现。这些益处包括促进母乳喂养、在儿童发育的关键时期建立亲子关系，以及降低参与者的累犯率。存在法律先例支持母亲继续抚养其子女的权利，但这与当前允许她们这样做的监狱设施形成鲜明对比。现有的州政策在确定儿童资格方面也有不一致的机制，应转向逐案进行决策。这项工作将表明，一个由法律支持并确保母婴福利的公正社会支持建立监狱托儿所项目，作为被监禁者现有医疗保健权利的一部分。
