NCJ Number
105812
Date Published
1987
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The Massachusetts Department of Correction opened an innovative program in January, 1985, whereby children could visit overnight with their incarcerated mothers.
Abstract
The Lancaster Visiting Cottage Program, located at MCI-Lancaster, a minimum and prerelease cocorrectional facility, offers a private and comfortable setting for the extended visits in the program's fully equipped three-bedroom trailers. The program was implemented with hopes that it would serve to reunite mothers with their children, help them to maintain or reestablish close ties, and prepare the mothers for their eventual release. The planning and advising of the program were completed through an interagency model -- a cooperative effort among the Department of Correction, other State agencies and private, nonprofit organizations. This report is the result of a process evaluation of the program's first year in operation. The research had three objectives: to provide feedback to the Lancaster staff and Advisory Board throughout the first year, to monitor the usage and participation of the program during that first year and to present a description of how the program operates. During 1985, there were 111 extended visits between 30 inmate mothers and 51 of their children. Most of the visits occurred on the weekends, usually lasting two nights. Although some of the visits involved two or more children, the majority of visits involved a single child. Controlling for the length of time spent at Lancaster, the female participants averaged an extended program visit every 42 days. The level of participation expected by the program planners was higher than the actual level of participation achieved in the program's first year. This report highlights some of the staff and inmate theories regarding the low participation rate, in addition to presenting a statistical analysis of frequent, infrequent and non-participants. (Author abstract modified)