{"id":20574,"date":"2020-05-09T06:05:38","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T06:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=20574"},"modified":"2020-05-15T14:25:02","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T14:25:02","slug":"mothers-behind-bars-nurture-relationships-with-visitors-in-this-unusual-prison-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/mothers-behind-bars-nurture-relationships-with-visitors-in-this-unusual-prison-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Mothers behind bars nurture relationships with visitors in this unusual prison garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julie Stevens<\/a>, Iowa State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Leaves are rustling. You can hear the sound of children kicking a ball, plinking the keys of a toy xylophone. People are laughing and talking.<\/p>\n

Are you picturing a prison? My colleagues and I did \u2013 and we turned these visions into reality. The garden and playscape we created at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women (ICIW) is changing the way incarcerated women spend time with their children, family and friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome\u201d is not a word typically associated with prison environments, but that\u2019s one way respondents in our recent study described the new outdoor area<\/a>. Our design-build team made up of Iowa State University design students<\/a> and incarcerated women and staff at ICIW created a space where incarcerated women can forget their identity as inmates and step back into their roles as mothers or grandmothers, sisters or aunts.<\/p>\n

Hard to maintain connections with home<\/h2>\n
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The outdoor space before renovation was far from child-friendly.<\/span>
\nJulie Stevens<\/span>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

People living inside prisons must endure isolation, tight spaces, loss of identity and separation from loved ones. Prisons are typically stark and void of color and living plants. Visits from loved ones can ease this difficult situation, but prison visits are complicated.<\/p>\n

Many incarcerated people find it difficult to maintain connections with loved ones<\/a>, especially children<\/a>. These bonds can be a critical component of successful reentry<\/a> back to their home and community after release. Though often cold and condemning, the prison visiting room may be the place where mothers and children first face one another after the traumatic events that led to incarceration \u2013 with security officers and other incarcerated people and visitors within earshot.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s only if children make the difficult trip. It is often financially and logistically impossible for those caring for the children of incarcerated parents to make a visit happen. Caregivers might be worried about the conditions<\/a> they\u2019d be bringing children into.<\/p>\n

Why is this important? Because more than 5 million children<\/a> in the U.S. have seen a parent sent to prison. Forty-eight percent of women in federal correctional facilities and 55% in state prisons are mothers of children under the age of 18<\/a>. Children of incarcerated parents are at increased risk of<\/a> themselves becoming incarcerated, struggling with mental health and performing poorly in school. They also tend to display behavioral issues and feelings of shame and abandonment.<\/p>\n

When my students and I started working with the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in 2011, our task was seemingly simple: beautify the grounds. The warden wanted calm inmates. These goals were linked \u2013 and I can happily say we\u2019ve achieved both<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But from the start, one project felt most significant to me \u2013 creating a nurturing outdoor space where mothers could build and maintain those incredibly important relationships with their children.<\/p>\n

Adding nature within prison walls<\/h2>\n

Research suggests that natural environments can<\/a> help mitigate stress and<\/a> offer other psychological benefits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The original outdoor visiting space consisted of brick and razor wire. As landscape architects, my team used environmental psychology<\/a> and therapeutic landscape<\/a> theories to carefully design active and passive spaces surrounded by gardens. Our aim was to employ the benefits of nature to improve connections between an incarcerated individual and her loved ones.<\/p>\n

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We took participatory design theories to heart, putting the power of design in the hands of incarcerated women.<\/span>
\nLauren Dietz<\/span>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Through participatory design<\/a>, we honored the needs and desires of the incarcerated women by including them as the most knowledgeable members of the design team. With pencils and play dough in hand, resident designers and their child visitors explicitly described what they wanted: a garden that felt and looked like home or a park.<\/p>\n

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Asked to draw their favorite part of the garden, several children shared their love for the \u2018tulip spinners.\u2019<\/span>
\nJulie Stevens<\/span>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The finished garden includes a circular walk wide enough for two tricycles or wheelchairs to pass comfortably. Play equipment like the tulip spinners provide a fun way for kids to release energy and are a great conversation piece for observers. We installed more comfortable seating where residents and visitors can take advantage of the positive natural distractions of colorful plants and rustling Quaking Aspen leaves.<\/p>\n

One Saturday afternoon, we watched as a family arrived to visit mom. The younger children embraced her with warm hugs while a teenager stayed silent with arms crossed. Mom gave him a little space as they walked to the garden and then began to talk.<\/p>\n

Even though it was exactly what we hoped would happen in the garden, we watched in amazement as their body language changed from tense to accepting and they started talking together. The visit eventually ended with the warmth that every mother and child need from each other.<\/p>\n

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Incarcerated women enjoy the space with young visitors and stop to play the xylophone. The plants will mature and fill in over time.<\/span>
\nJulie Stevens<\/span>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What moms and kids say about the new space<\/h2>\n

To learn more about the garden\u2019s effect on incarcerated women and their visitors, my colleagues Barb Toews<\/a> and Amy Wagenfeld<\/a> conducted interviews and surveys<\/a> with them in the garden itself. They told us that visits had changed in four important ways:<\/p>\n