Mother went off rails when baby taken

Selo Cook and Andreas. Picture / Simon Baker.

Within two weeks of prison authorities removing Selo Cook's baby, the prisoner was out of her self-contained prison house, back on drugs and back in solitary.

Cook received a 27-month prison sentence for fraud early last year. She was 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time.

She gave birth to Andreas just weeks after beginning her stretch, and had the care of him for eight months.

But in September, the infant was taken from her and placed in the care of Cook's extended family.

She went from seeing her child daily to meeting him only at scheduled visitor sessions.

Even though she had only a few months to go before her first parole hearing in December, the trauma of separation took its toll on Cook and before long she had fallen prey to the perils of daily prison life.

She was caught with drugs, and as a result missed her December parole hearing.

"I hated it, it was a real emotional time for me," she told the Herald yesterday. Cook is firmly behind Green Party MP Sue Bradford's plan for babies under 2 to be cared for by their mother for up to two years.

"I think it's really good because it gives them time to bond with their baby."

There were "heaps" of drugs in prison, but having the care of a young child changed a mother's priorities, she said.

Cook is now on home detention in Christchurch with Andreas and her partner.