The costs of locking up mothers

Work with offenders on a new report from Crest Advisory

New research published today by the criminal justice consultancy Crest Advisory is the latest evidence of our failure to tackle the issue of maternal imprisonment with many mothers still incarcerated for minor, non-violent offences with devastating long-term consequences on themselves and their children.

The Crest report calls for a whole systems approach which identifies the existing responses not only on the life chances of imprisoned mothers and their children, but also the economic impact through potentially avoidable costs which amount to many millions of pounds each year.

Crest found that a deep distrust of local authority social services, compounded by poor communication and information sharing, forms a significant barrier to engaging mothers with services which could help prevent them from offending and support prolonged desistance. The research also suggests there is a significant cohort of mothers in the criminal justice system who have had children removed from their care and that we do not fully understand their situation.

The research found that the effects of maternal imprisonment can be severe and long-lasting on children, leading to exclusion from school, increased vulnerability to exploitation, mental health issues and youth crime, ultimately leading to incarceration. Children are not routinely offered targeted support to deal with the acute trauma of separation from their mother which could reduce the impacts. The financial and social cost of this missed opportunity is significant. Crest calculates that interventions with children affected by maternal imprisonment were costing the taxpayer as much as £265,008 per family when the cost of the mother’s custodial sentence is taken into consideration.

Although there are existing sentencing guidelines are designed to ensure judges and magistrates consider sole or primary carer status as a mitigating factor, awareness of and application of these guidelines is low.

Key findings 

The report authors, Julia Pitman and Jessica Hull, organise their findings into six main categories:

1. Data collection on maternal status is inconsistent, limiting the ability of relevant agencies to understand the scope and scale of those affected by maternal imprisonment
2. Mothers experience significant emotional distress which prisons are not equipped to deal with. Behaviour linked to this distress can be labelled as aggressive, which perversely counts against mothers in procedures related to contact with their children
3. Maternal rights are undermined by poor relationships with social services and court proceedings related to their children’s care
4. Mothers face a specific set of challenges on release from prison – including the fact that probation services don’t sufficiently recognise and support the specific needs of mothers, undermining their ability to maximise motherhood as a rehabilitation asset
5. Maternal imprisonment is a significant trauma for children with potentially devastating consequences which can result in them ending up in prison themselves, leading to an inter-generational cycle of crime and deprivation
6. Opportunities to divert mothers out of the criminal justice system are being missed

The researchers sets out three broad principles which they say should guide the response to mitigating the impact of maternal imprisonment on mothers, children and society as a whole.

1. Mothers should only be sent to prison as a last resort. Prison sentences for minor offences and short sentences are counterproductive. Tailored, trauma-informed interventions with mothers in the community and greater awareness of and adherence to relevant sentencing guidelines would ensure that fewer mothers are sent to prison
2. Children affected by maternal imprisonment must be offered specialist support. It is vital that agencies working with children understand and can recognise the impacts of maternal imprisonment and are able to refer children to bespoke support in their local area
3. Maternal identity and the impact of separation from children must be recognised, understood and supported by all agencies working with mothers who have committed a criminal offence.

Readers interested in this subject can read the full report here.