THE children of female prisoners are safer in Mountjoy than on “the outside”, according to a new study.

Babies Behind Bars — the first report of its kind in Ireland — says that the routine and security inside Dochas, the women’s prison, helps female inmates to bond with their infants and gives them unrivalled access to maternity services and post-natal healthcare.

“Most people aren’t aware that there are babies in prisons,” said Francis Enright, a consultant paediatrician at Wexford general hospital who led the study.

“Sometimes the lifestyle of mother and baby in prison is less chaotic than it would be if they were out. This period in prison may be less stressful, and mother and baby can avail of education, recreation and health screening more easily.

“The prison system can be a refuge for women; some try to get back into prison for the security and routine. Outside of prison they might be homeless, living in poverty or violence. Some women refuse to go back to where they came from.”

Fourteen babies, housed in a secure halfway house within the Mountjoy compound, have been serving time alongside women prisoners since 2001.

One woman incarcerated in Dochas is serving time for killing a child; another for killing two babies. One inmate is imprisoned for sexual offences and another is a convicted baby snatcher. Drug abuse is rife: more than 50% of women are dispensed methadone daily.

“Security is an issue for some mothers, but babies are kept away from serious offenders,” said Enright. “It may be that a mother and baby unit is needed in the Irish prison system to safeguard the young child.”

Irish women who give birth behind bars are allowed to keep their babies instead of giving up the child to a foster family or a relative. After the birth, the mother can appeal against her sentence or obtain temporary release to be with her baby.

Most mothers opt to place their children in care, but some keep their babies with them in prison for up to 18 months. Babies aged over 18 months are not permitted to live behind bars because of the risk of attachment disorders.

Ireland’s longest-serving baby inmate recently left Mountjoy after celebrating her first birthday, as her mother had completed her sentence. Such is the success of the mother and child regime at the Mountjoy jail that visiting fathers have been known to try to leave other children with the mother.

“We’ve never been left holding the baby, thank God,” aid Kathleen McMahon, governor of the Dochas centre.

“When they are here, the babies are safe and well. It is a friendly place and there is an excellent rapport between the women and the staff. It is our own little community, but prison is no place for a baby. I certainly wouldn’t encourage it, children are better off in a family environment.”

Women amount to a small but increasing proportion of the Irish prison population, with most convictions due to assaults, drug running and prostitution. The female inmate population has quadrupled at Mountjoy since the 1970s. Dochas houses 88 prisoners but is regularly overcrowded.

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