Wilkinson Kate: Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Wilkinson Kate: Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
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KATE WILKINSON (National) 
: 
 I rise today with pleasure to speak also in support of the Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Bill. Like other parties in this House the National Party has supported the bill through all of its stages and continues to do so at its third reading. 
We have heard that the bill amends the Corrections Act 2004 extending the time that mothers can keep their babies with them in prison from 6 months up to 2 years with a 3-month grace period. It brings New Zealand in line with other international jurisdictions and is certainly not out of step with current trends. Of 27 countries including 8 Australian states I understand only Slovakia does not allow children in prison with their mums and in its case Slovakia defers imprisonment of a pregnant woman until the baby is born. Upper age-limits vary from 12 months in places like Hungary Ireland Japan Malta and Sweden to 6 years in countries like Germany and Spain whilst England’s upper age-limit is 18 months and Scotland’s is 6 years. New Zealand is looking at 2 years. Mothers will be able to look after their children for that time even though they may be in prison so that care bonding and feeding can be maintained and continued throughout that time. Two years is considered an optimum time for separation given the circumstances of average sentences ability to visit alternative care and whether the mother with the baby is able to access programmes and tuition to learn proper parenting skills. 
One of the biggest debates has centred on the idea that prison is not a suitable environment for a child or a baby. I think that everyone in this House will agree that prison certainly is not the ideal place to raise a baby and given the choice I am certain that no mother wants to bond with her new baby in a prison cell. It is an unfortunate situation but it is one we are none the less faced with in this country as the number of women in prison continues to grow according to the Ministry of Justice 2006 forecast. According to that forecast the women’s prison population is expected to increase to 532 women by 2014. However unsuitable an environment prison is we also agree that the health safety and well-being of the child are paramount. If we agree on that then surely we must also agree that to house a baby with its mother even within the confines of the prison walls where that baby is warm fed and cared for by the most important person in its life really is in the child’s best interests. 
Current statistics have been gathered from a couple of snapshots as at 31 January 2004 and again in 2006. In that period only 22 female inmates had babies with them in self-care units. The female prison population doubled from 186 to 370 in that period. The number of female prisoners older than 40 years increased from 14 percent to 24 percent of the prison population but the greatest growth was in the 14 to 29-year-old age group which now represents some 46 percent of the prison population. Inmates with children aged 2 years or under totalled 160 in 2006 with 140 of those children being aged from 2 to 5 years. We were told that 36 percent of inmates served short-term sentences being less than 2 years and becoming eligible for release at 12 months. Of the 43 percent of those serving long-term sentences half are sentenced to 3 years or less and are eligible for parole at one-third of that sentence. So the vast majority of children will be in prisons for less than 12 months. 
I want to relate a situation that I did speak about in Committee stage which actually reflects the good intention and purpose of this bill. It was a true story in Central Otago. A young mum offended. She had a 3-month-old baby. One of the local lawyers there told me that at every court date the judge struggles with what to do with dependants such as these that really fall through the cracks. The judge stated in his judgment that the defendant should have been given a sentence of community detention but because it was not offered in that area he could not give her that sentence. She had a 3-month-old baby. She had no family outside Central Otago because she had grown up there and so she had no support outside Central Otago. That mum was sentenced to 4 months’ imprisonment. She has to serve the entire 4 months. The baby has now been left with her grandmother. The mother was still breastfeeding the 3-month-old baby who was left with her grandmother. The lawyer quite rightly stated at the time that that situation was outrageous. The Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Bill will go some way to ameliorating that situation. 
Although we can criticise the fact that community detention is not available in all areas and was not available in areas such as Central Otago—we understand because of the lack of cellphone coverage—this is a real-life situation that demonstrates how this bill can do great things for that mum with a 3-month-old baby. Certainly the mother had offended but the offence was to the extent that the sentence was only 4 months’ imprisonment and her baby had to be left with her grandmother even though the mother was still breastfeeding. In this sense it was a bit of justice by geography but the judge had no choice. The judge admitted it was deplorable and after the enactment of this bill hopefully that situation will not occur again. 
I think it is fair to say that nobody believes that prison is the best place to bring up children but there are situations like that Central Otago case where this is the only fair and reasonable thing to do. At the end of the day what is the alternative? The alternative is where children and babies are separated from their mothers for an extended period of time and often get shipped between family members or foster homes from one house to another. This benefits no one. Under this bill parenting agreements will be set in place setting out obligations of the mother with the Department of Corrections for as long as the mother is in that programme—obligatory conditions that arguably provide conditions in upbringing considerably better than that child may have otherwise received in the home. 
National believes that mothers and babies deserve this chance to bond in those first few months of life. This sentiment was shared by a number of submitters including the Families Commission which said it is vital that babies form a strong attachment to one person within the first few years of life. From this grows a sense of security and trust self-esteem and the capacity to form loving relationships with other people. Developmental experts advise that children should not be separated from their primary care giver between the ages of 6 months to about 2½ years to 3 years for this reason. The effect of successful bonding is so profound that it relates to nearly all the aspects of the child’s future life. The interest of the child was National’s main concern in making decisions about the placement of children of prison inmates. We feel comfortable knowing that by allowing mothers to have their babies living with them in prison we are providing the opportunity to encourage those families to build stronger relationships which will hopefully continue to flourish once the term of imprisonment ends. 
Historically the vast majority of women have received short sentences and most continue to receive prison sentences of less than 2 years. The average I understand is about 11½ months. Currently those who are serving a sentence of 2 years or less are automatically released after serving half of their sentence. Therefore the number of children separated from their mothers will be kept to a minimum and through this extension we are significantly improving the status quo. 
There are some exemptions. There are some mothers who will not be eligible to apply to bring their children into prison. These exceptions include those who have committed unforgivable crimes against children. Those mothers will not have their applications approved and this is entirely appropriate. 
We have heard that significant changes to New Zealand’s three women’s prisons will be required in order to accommodate children under 2 years of age. But this is a cost that I am sure will be outweighed by the benefits to our society. We are protecting the safety and the well-being of our children. We are reiterating the importance of bonding and attachment between mothers and babies. We are helping to move towards the rehabilitation of the mother and quite possibly we are reducing recidivism. 
It is also important to remember the general consensus that during the toddler years the child will have no idea of its surroundings. It will have no recollection of time spent growing up in prison. It will not care. However that baby will know who its mother is. This change brings New Zealand into line with most comparable Western jurisdictions and focuses on the best interests of the child while potentially being very beneficial to their mothers and also to our country as a whole. 
I am pleased to stand and to continue National’s support on this bill. I also congratulate the original promoter of the bill Sue Bradford on bringing it to the House. We are pleased that it has had such wide cross-party support and we are certainly pleased to continue our support for this bill.