Only Prison Mums Surveyed
The Department of Corrections has surveyed its female prisoners on how many have children under five and what their respective prison terms were, but dads were not asked.
A proposed law change will allow children under two years of age to live with their imprisoned mothers if certain conditions are met, but the bill does not allow for such an option for fathers, regardless of the circumstances.
August saw the highest prison population ever recorded in New Zealand at nearly 8,300 people, despite over a decade of declining crime rates.
20% of the surveyed women has children under five, and about 10% had children under two. Two thirds of the surveyed mothers had minimum security classification, and just over half served less than two years.
