Toddlers can go to jail with mum

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Toddlers up to two years old will be living with their mothers behind bars by the end of the year.

Women's prisons in Christchurch and Auckland are upgrading their facilities to comply with a law passed in 2008. But Arohata Prison, in the Wellington suburb of Tawa, will not accept children older than nine months, because the steep terrain is unsuitable.

The babies will not live in prison cells but will stay with their mothers – and other minimum security inmates close to release – in "self-care" units.

Implementing the legislation in the three women's prisons was delayed to allow the Corrections Department to "toddler-proof" the units. This is likely in Auckland by October and in Christchurch by the end of the year, staff say.

Wayne McKnight, prison manager at Christchurch, said staff were in the "planning stage" for introducing children up to two. Children up to nine months can already stay at the units, if their mothers are eligible. The prison runs a welfare scheme with the community-funded Family Help Trust, teaching prison mums parenting skills and offering support on their release.

A similar initiative will be run by welfare organisation Great Potentials in Auckland Women's Prison, probably by October.

Staff at Arohata said the self-care unit – the first to be opened in 2002 – had been closed to prison mums for two years. However, a spokeswoman for Corrections said the unit was not "closed" but that no mothers had been eligible to live there in that time.

Mothers must be assessed and agree to take part in an education programme before they are allowed to have children with them. Experts believe it rehabilitates mothers and lessens the risk of reoffending. Prison bosses can remove babies if they are at risk or the mother breaks rules.

- © Fairfax NZ News