Prison Born: Incarceration and Motherhood in the Colonial Shadow

A scathing critique of the colonial legal systems denial of childrens rights One afternoon in 2016, law professor Robin Hansen receives a call. On the other end of the line is Jacquiea pregnant Indigenous woman, nine weeks from her due date and terrified for the welfare of her unborn son. Jacquie has been sentenced to a custodial prison sentence and her son will be automatically separated from her immediately after his birth. As Hansen works to help Jacquie with her appeal, she uncovers the legal systems inherent discrimination against mothers in custody and the children born to them. Using Access to Information requests along with extensive research, Hansen examines the legal rights of these womenthe majority of whom are Indigenousand finds that Jacquie and her son are by no means alone: automatic mother-infant separation without due process remains the norm in most jurisdictions in Canada. Prison Born calls attention to the colonial and gendered assumptions that continue to underpin the legal systemassumptions that so frequently lead to the violation of the rights and denial of personhood for children and their mothers.