Abstract:

The imprisonment of female criminals together with their minor children in the Polish institutionalized penitentiary system, despite its lengthy history, still raises more or less justified doubts as to its resocialization value for the imprisoned women and the socialization consequences for their minor children staying in the prison environment for several years. The environment is not identical from the perspective of both the mothers and their children. It is not burdensome with regards to experiencing these restrictive conditions, due to the efforts which are made. However, these efforts are not always successful for the women in post-penitentiary phase. In this article, the author attempts to show the imprisonment conditions and, in particular, to characterize women staying in them, actively fulfilling their maternal roles towards their children during their stay in prison, and much too often only at that time and in these conditions.

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