If you ask the dedicated team of pro bono lawyers working with Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS) Incarcerated Mothers Law Project about the top priority for incarcerated mothers in New York state, they will tell you without hesitation—it’s the kids. Each month, our team meets with mothers and parents in the state’s three federal women’s prisons and at Rikers Island in New York City. VOLS works with individuals of all gender identities, but for the sake of brevity, we use the term ‘mother.’ Every mother is wholly focused on reconnecting with her children and ensuring her children’s well-being while she is incarcerated. Yet, the separation of families and the unnecessary estrangement of mothers from their children is rarely discussed outside social worker and legal service provider circles working with this population.
The disruption of families is an enduring and multi-generational consequence of lengthy sentences and poor prison conditions for women. Reducing isolation for mothers—from society, from their children, and from their legal rights—by increasing access to free family law services is a huge first step to preventing unnecessary alienation and separation.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, as of 2020, there were about 2.1 million people incarcerated in the United States. Of these, approximately 1.1 million were parents, with more than half of them reporting that they had children under age 18. Incarceration of a parent is considered an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), and as discussed in several recent studies published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, children with incarcerated parents are exposed to nearly five times as many ACEs as their peers. According to the Centers for Disease Control, ACEs are linked to a range of traumatic and costly issues in both childhood and adulthood, including dropping out of school, underemployment and unemployment, chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance use. Yet, this collateral consequence of incarceration, namely the destabilization it causes for mothers and children, goes mostly unaddressed.
Collateral Damage: Legal Strangers
According to a 2024 report from the Sentencing Project, approximately 60 percent of women incarcerated in state prisons are mothers. Yet, incarcerated mothers like VOLS clients report having no access to family law attorneys. State-appointed criminal defense lawyers are typically not available or qualified to provide advice on family law issues. VOLS lawyers meet at Rikers Island, for example, with incarcerated mothers in pretrial detention. Yet, even without a conviction or extended incarceration period, the mothers have significant obstacles advocating for and enforcing legally permitted visitation, telephone calls, and letters. Most report limited or no contact with their children. Without proper family legal support, an incarcerated mother can lose all access and rights to her children, permanently, in as little as 15 months, rendering parent and child legal strangers to one another.
The impact is racially disproportionate. For incarcerated Black and Brown mothers, maintaining connections with their children and retaining their parental rights are far more difficult due to systemic racism in both the criminal justice and child welfare systems. Racial bias in legal proceedings, compounded by economic inequities and cultural barriers, makes it harder for these mothers to navigate the complex systems that govern family separation and reunification. These compounded challenges exacerbate the already significant difficulties incarcerated mothers face, further entrenching racial disparities and perpetuating cycles of trauma and disadvantage across generations. Addressing these racial inequities requires comprehensive reforms that acknowledge the unique needs of Black and Brown incarcerated mothers and provide the support necessary for family preservation and reunification.
Isolation by Design
Incarcerated parents in the United States face immense isolation. This is due not only to physical confinement but also to the systemic challenges they face in maintaining relationships with their children—even when legally entitled to contact. The isolation is more pronounced for mothers than for fathers; the systems designed to support incarcerated individuals tend to be less responsive to the specific needs of women and even less so for mothers.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), incarcerated women are less likely to receive visits from family members compared to men, particularly in facilities where family visiting rooms and times are restrictive or poorly designed. Incarcerated women are often housed in prisons located far away from their families; over 70 percent are incarcerated more than 100 miles from their homes, according to the National Institute of Corrections. The distance makes it significantly harder for children to visit their mothers, a critical aspect of maintaining familial bonds. Due to advocacy efforts, New York State has a Proximity Law that requires the Department of Corrections to place incarcerated parents in a facility as close to their minor children as possible “whenever practicable.” However, because there are only three women’s prisons in the state, incarcerated mothers are often placed hundreds of miles from their children, even when they are in the closest possible facility.
For many mothers, the emotional pain of being physically separated from their children is compounded by feelings of guilt and shame, which can hinder their rehabilitation and reintegration. The American Journal of Public Health reports that incarcerated women are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and trauma, largely because of the rupture in their familial relationships. The loss of the maternal role and the inability to care for their children while incarcerated leads many mothers to experience a deep sense of alienation from their own families and communities. This compounds the fact that approximately 80 percent of incarcerated women have experienced some form of trauma, with many having suffered multiple, complex types of abuse. Yet, generally, correctional facilities lack the necessary infrastructure and social programs to effectively address the needs of traumatized individuals and those dealing with mental health challenges.