Abstract
In this chapter we examine the ways a prison-based Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) is managed as it strives to develop innovative ways of working with diverse family cultures so as to extend and consolidate family resilience and family well-being. The chapter draws on data that were collected while undertaking an evaluation of an MBU. We begin with a brief description of the methods used before offering both a succinct history of MBUs in the United Kingdom and more specific contextual details in relation to the MBU where we undertook the evaluation. Examples of data are introduced that, when read within a Foucauldian framework, foreground some of the tensions between the philosophy and practices of the MBU and the locations of prison, prisoner, mother, and child. It is by opening up these tensions that we are able to interrogate the discourses that are in circulation and in so doing make a space for renewed discussions that relate to both early childhood education as well as to what might constitute the resilient family.
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© 2012 Judith Duncan and Sarah Te One
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Jones, L., Holmes, R., MacLure, M. (2012). Disturbing Cultures of Incarceration: The Struggle for Normality and the Imprisoned Family. In: Duncan, J., One, S.T. (eds) Comparative Early Childhood Education Services. Critical Cultural Studies of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137016782_9
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