Motherhood and incarceration in South America: an almost invisible and unattended childhood

Abstract

This article analyzes the relationship between motherhood and incarceration in penitentiary centers in South America, especially in terms of the impact on children and adolescents (NNA by its Spanish initials) and on the women deprived of their liberty. To do this, a systematic review of recent (last
decade) articles that address the subject empirically was carried out. selecting 12 articles from the period 2010-2021. The main findings of our review suggest that motherhood behind bars and the situation of children with incarcerated paternal referentsis a serious problem, one of increasing massiviness and quite invisible in South America, with various negative effects for both, the NNA themselves and the incarcerated women, including mental health, behavioral and adaptive problems, as well as latent social impacts of female incarceration. At the same time, while there is some research and intervention, the situation of child victims exposed to incarceration (in various forms) remains largely unprotected, as a combined result of a patriarchal society, punitive criminal policies that continue to subordinate women – and with it, to childhood—to the dominant interests, in their androcentric and adult-centric aspects, and little empirical research of a national and/or longitudinal nature. In the midst of this strong invisibility in the region, we dare to make some public policy and intervention suggestions to reverse part of the negative effects of incarceration on children and their mothers.