Kerre Woodham: Let the babies live in prison

I suppose it's not surprising that there's been a chorus of outrage over the suggestion that women should be able to keep their babies in prison with them until the babies turn two.

Three square meals a day, underfloor heating - and now they can keep their kids. A lot of talkback callers were wondering where the punishment is in being sent to jail.

Clearly, these callers are people who do not value their liberty highly. I, for one, could think of nothing worse than having my life regulated by others and being confined to one space for years at a time.

We don't have underfloor heating in our drafty old workers' cottage, but I'm sure as hell not going to go to jail to get warm tootsies.

At the moment, women can, in some circumstances, keep their babies with them in prison up until the age of six months, and then the babies are taken from them and placed in the care of family or welfare authorities.

Sue Bradford's bill, designed to bring New Zealand policy closer to that of other countries, would allow the babies to remain with their mothers in special self-care units until the young ones turned 2, and in a rare move, Parliament voted unanimously to support the bill.

It now moves to select committee stage, and the public will get the chance to have its say on the rightness or otherwise of the proposed legislation.

Like Parliament, I can see the benefits of this if it's done properly. Our first concern should be for the child, and if it's going to be brought up by its mother in an environment where the mother has support and assistance, surely that's better for the baby.

The mother is going to come out of jail eventually. If she has no bond with her child, it's going to be very difficult for her to mother effectively.

For many women, having a child is the reality check they need for them to start taking responsibility, and becoming a mother may well be the making of some of the jailbirds.

Of course, there is the potential for women to become pregnant to try to get a lighter sentence, but judges seem wise to that. As I recall from past cases, crusty old members of the judiciary take a dim view of female defendants whose bellies begin to swell over the course of a trial. And at the moment, there are only 13 pregnant women in the prison system, so it's not like the system's being grossly abused.

I remember being out at Paremoremo Prison filming a story one Saturday. It was visiting day, so families were filing in to see the men. A gorgeous little boy of about 3, came in, carrying a flower, and one of the guards asked him who that was for. "It's for my dad cos it's his birthday," he replied, smiling and running off down the soulless corridor.

I remarked on what a cutie the little one was, and the guard raised his eyebrow. "He's not going to be so cute when we see him in here 15 years from now," he said.

I guess you can understand the cynicism from someone whose daily life involves seeing the worst of people, but I'd like to think every child has a chance. No matter who their parents are or what mistakes their parents have made.

It's the children we have to care for, and if that means that their parents have to be cared for, too, so be it.