re: Mob Mol Who Smuggled Sperm Says Prison System Hates Her Child for Being Born

Alice — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:27:45 GMT

I think this is a case of punishing the prisoners family. It also seems intuitive that if they have regular contact with their family they would be more likely to behave in prison and less likely to reoffend since they have a valuable relationship with their family.

re: Mob Mol Who Smuggled Sperm Says Prison System Hates Her Child for Being Born

leahsmom — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:52:18 GMT

It's my understanding that federal prisoners often are kept far away from their families so that they can't visit - or can visit maybe once a year. Phone calls are hard, as well, both bureaucratically (family members have to establish an account to be able even to take a collect call) and financially (exorbitant rates not controlled by the FCC) - so much so that at least one family I have spoken to, the mom had to take a second job to afford to talk to dad, kept many states away. Now she has little time to spend with her 14 year old - she works a full-time day job, and a job at night. (Or did last fall, when I spoke to her). Another family didn't know their daughter had been raped by a CO for months, because they couldn't afford to pay the balance, and she, herself, could call neither them nor her lawyer. I'm not for "coddling" prisoners - but studies show that in families with some contact with an incarcerated parent who is not an abusive parent, kids do better psychologically and in school. I think there has to be a better way to handle where prisoners are kept and how families can keep in touch.