Johnson, Jacqueline Final Phd Thesis.Pdf (13.72Mb)
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Monitored Mothering: The Experience of Mothers who Parent within New Zealand Women’s Prisons A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work at the University of Canterbury Jacqui Johnson University of Canterbury 2019 1 | Page 2 | Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to the amazing mothers who shared their stories as part of this research journey. Your deeply personal stories reflect voices of women with incredible strength of character and I will be forever grateful to you all. I am thankful for the generous time and tireless effort from both my supervisors, Professor Jane Maidment and Dr Andrew Frost. I acknowledge that this project has not been without its challenges, but I am humbled at the commitment and support that I always felt from you both and I sincerely thank you for this. I would also like to thank Dr Annabel Taylor whose academic advice as a supervisor in the early stages of this research was much appreciated. I would like to thank the University of Canterbury for the Doctoral Scholarship I received at the commencement of this research. Furthermore, this research would not have been possible without the support of the Department of Corrections. Dad, I have waited a long time to thank you for all of this. You instilled in me a determination and perseverance over the years that I can only appreciate now. I do not have the words to express how grateful I am to you, but thank you. Mum, I also thank you for all the support you have given to me and my family. You certainly are the best conference travel companion and it has been a blessing to be able to share those times with you. Andrew, Noah, Nikau and Taine – thank you my whānau. You make me so proud the way you have stood by me and supported me through this adventure. I realise the journey has been long and a bit bumpy at times, but with your support I have always known that together we would make it. Andrew, I am indebted to you and so thankful for your strength and positive energy you have used to guide our family. My sister Amanda, thank you for everything you have done to get me to where I am now. I am in awe of your unwavering support and constant enthusiasm in 3 | Page encouraging me to move forward when the enormity of this project was seemingly too much. I am incredibly grateful to my friends that have always stood by me and been there for me. Claire, Sam, Bernie, Belinda, Tania, Sasha, Natasha, Nicki and Esther, you have all played a part in this and managed me when I was unable to manage myself. Your friendship and support has been unfailing and I am looking forward to letting you all know how special you are. 4 | Page ABSTRACT While New Zealand previously allowed babies up to six months old to reside in prison with their mothers in self-care units, in 2008 the Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Act was introduced allowing children under the age of two to remain in their mother’s care. This thesis offers an in-depth qualitative account of mothers’ experiences both within the Mothers with Babies Units (MBU) in New Zealand women’s prisons and their reintegration to their communities. To build a picture of lived experience, I recorded the stories of mothers during their time in the MBU and post-release, and upon reintegration. In-depth interviewing, participant observation and extensive journaling was used to conduct this research. I undertook my fieldwork in Auckland Region Women’s Correctional Facility, Christchurch Women’s Prison, and within participant’s communities between 2012 and 2015. As a social work researcher, I listened and gathered stories from women who lived within the MBU, observing the impact of this environment on the experiences of mothers both inside the unit and as they were released. This research offered an opportunity for incarcerated mothers to tell their stories as they understood them, and as they chose to speak about them at that point in time. I gained a wide range of insights through this process of listening. I discovered how the prison nursery operated within a custodial context, which highlighted how these seemingly contradictory worlds of the nursery and prison interacted. I examined how the context of the MBU influenced the development of critical mother-child relationships, connectedness and bonding essential for wellbeing in the first years of life. I also considered mothers’ experiences when they returned to their communities. Of interest was the inter-relatedness of systems and supports both within the prison environment and between the mother, family/whānau and community networks outside. The permeability of these system boundaries was also a notable insight. 5 | Page As a key outcome from this research, I found the quality of these relationships to significantly contribute to a mother’s well-being. I then used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework as a foundation to examine and discuss these relational matters. Despite the growing rates of incarceration for women internationally, few studies have focused on the experience of motherhood within the prison. This thesis makes a significant contribution to the literature. It is a unique study offering empirical evidence of the experiences of New Zealand mothers who have their children living with them inside the prison. The findings from this research could be used to inform the development of mother and child-centred programmes and policies in New Zealand and internationally. 6 | Page CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................. 3 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................... 5 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................... 11 LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................... 12 LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................... 13 1. SETTING THE SCENE ............................................................... 14 Framing this Research ............................................................................................... 15 Research Purpose .................................................................................................. 16 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 17 Thesis Outline ........................................................................................................ 17 Women, Mothers and Crime: Theoretical, Historical and Political Accounts .......... 19 A Theoretical Account: Women and Crime .......................................................... 19 A Historical Account: New Zealand Women and Crime ....................................... 21 A Political Account: New Zealand Social Policy Development .............................. 26 2. PARENTING WITHIN A PRISON NURSERY ............................... 35 Background to the Prison Nursery Programmes ...................................................... 37 Underlying Principles of Prison Nursery Programmes .............................................. 38 Attachment, Bonding and Relationship Building .................................................. 38 Recidivism .............................................................................................................. 46 Rights of the Child .................................................................................................. 50 International Nursery Programmes ........................................................................... 52 New Zealand-Based Research ................................................................................... 56 Summary .................................................................................................................... 59 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................... 61 A Qualitative Methodology ....................................................................................... 62 A Theoretical Perspective .......................................................................................... 63 7 | Page Feminist Informed Research ................................................................................. 64 An Ecological Approach ......................................................................................... 68 Storylines We Come to Live By .............................................................................. 72 Social Construction of Motherhood ...................................................................... 74 Traditional Māori Whānau .................................................................................... 75 Theories of Control: A Social Constructionist Understanding .................................. 78 Foucault: Biopower, Panopticons and Instruments of Control ............................ 79 Goffman: Total Institutions, Stigma, Stereotypes, Labelling and Shame ............. 82 4. RESEARCH PROCESS ............................................................... 86 Research Planning ...................................................................................................... 87 Gaining Ethics Approval ......................................................................................... 87 Pre-Prison Planning ............................................................................................... 88 Researching in Prison ................................................................................................