ABSTRACT
Inmate-mothers usually maintain ties with children through letters, phone calls, and intermittent brief visits. The programs to strengthen mother-child bonds in prisons may be divided into three categories: nurseries for newborn babies, extended visiting programs, and child development and/or parenting programs. In 1978, the Shared Beginnings Program was created as a joint project of the Bureau of Prisons and the Emergency Shelter Program in Hayward, California. The most common reason given by staff in support of the program was that it enabled women and children to interact for an extended period and to share daily routine experiences such as meals orbedtime. Conceptually and operationally, the programs share a number of common elements. Conceptually, these programs uniformly recognize the importance of bond maintenance for inmate-mothers and children. Since mothers want to reunite with their children following release, it is imperative for them to have some basis for understanding one another and for developing a relationship prior to release.
