From mothering behind bars to parenting beyond barriers? The right to family life and the politics of imprisonment

There are, of course, a number of concerns and difficulties associated with the imprisonment of a parent. In the present article, however, discussion will focus only on one issue, namely access to and removal from prison mother and baby units. More specifically, this paper will look at recent case law on the prison service's administration of these units in order to suggest that more might be done in this context to protect the Article 8 rights, of both an imprisoned mother and her child. Article by Dr Vanessa E. Munro (School of Law, King's College London) published in Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London. This article is taken from a paper presented by the author at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies during a workshop on prison & family on May 18, 2006.