Maternal identity and the prison bars

the divided motherhood phenomenon among arrested women

Abstract

The structure of the prison system was built on male pillars, which reflects the invisibility of female peculiarities such as the exercise of motherhood, both in relation to the child born in the prison environment and the children who were out of prison. We aimed to describe the divided motherhood phenomenon among 14 inmates living with their children in a penitentiary's nursery of Aquiraz, Ceará. An in-depth interview and simple/participant observation were used to data collect.  

KEYWORDS: Mothers. Prisons. Maternal Deprivation. Mother-Child Relations. Parenting.