Number of babies born in prison soars

Independent 27 October 2008

The number of children born behind bars has almost doubled since Labour came to power, with new figures showing women prisoners currently giving birth at nearly four a week.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice show that 283 children were born in prisons in England and Wales between April 2005 and July this year, an average of 1.7 a week. But 49 babies were born between April and the beginning of July this year alone, almost four a week, meaning the 2008 total could reach nearly 200 if births continue at the same rate, more than double the 64 prison births recorded in 1995-96 before Labour came to power.

Prison reformers demanded that women should be locked up only in extreme circumstances, saying that keeping mothers and young babies in prison can harm young children and does nothing to cut crime.

The number of women in jail has nearly doubled in the past decade and stands at more than 4,500. Most women are in for non-violent offences, with about a third jailed for theft or handling stolen goods; in 2006, nearly two-thirds served less than six months.

The Ministry of Justice said sentencing decisions were the responsibility of judges and magistrates. But penal reformers and Opposition MPs expressed anger at the increasing numbers of babies born in custody.

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "No pregnant woman should be held in prison. It is an outdated and inhumane practice, penalising a baby for something that is no fault of its own. Fewer than one in four women is in prison for serious violent offences. Most women who come into contact with the criminal justice system could be sentenced to community programmes with no danger to the public and with a hugely positive impact on the health and well-being of the child."

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "Apart from people who have committed extremely serious or violent offences it is difficult to see how jailing a young mother is going to do anything other than damage her and her baby. The conditions in prisons may no longer be Dickensian but young mothers are still going to jail for the same reasons they were in Victorian times, poverty, debt, addiction and mental illness."

The latest sentencing guidelines stress that in cases where jail is not regarded as essential courts may regard pregnancy as a mitigating factor. There are seven specialised mother and baby units in prisons across England. New babies can stay with their mothers for between nine and 18 months, and often leave when their mothers finish their sentences. Older children of women serving longer sentences are taken either to live with relatives outside prison or are put into care.

Prison Service guidelines insist young children behind bars must have contact with their family and see the world outside prison, with trips outside jail with nursery nurses to go shopping and visit local parks. Officials say women do not give birth inside jails – except in medical emergencies – and they offer special units to provide a calm environment for babies to bond with their mothers.

But the Liberal Democrats, who obtained the new figures from parliamentary questions, blamed the rise in prison births on the Government's desire to look tough on crime. David Howarth, the Liberal Democrat Justice spokesman, said: "There can be fewer worse starts in life than being born to a mother in prison. Labour's obsession with looking tough has led to a near doubling of the number of women in prison in the past decade.

"It is little surprise, therefore, that this year looks set to break the unenviable record for the number of babies born in incarceration. Not only should there be fewer women in prison but smaller prison units, closer to home, would surely be a more appropriate environment to bear and raise children than exists in prison today."

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, will use a speech today to criticise prison reformers, saying: "We should not shy from the fact that the sentences of the court are first and foremost for the punishment of those who have broken the law, broken society's rules."