Mothers under Confinement: : Maternal Reflections in a Greek Prison for Women

The main goal of this paper is to examine the ways imprisoned mothers speak of the social meaning of motherhood and their personal experiences as mothers under confinement circumstances. That is, the interaction between motherhood and prison: how does prison reality affect the way women speak of their maternal identity and performance, and how does this maternal identity affect the way those women deal with their imprisonment? My perspective and discussion focus on the ways they redefine their personal, womanly and maternal identities, the ways in which they value and confront the dominant perceptions on motherhood, in relation to their personal and family characteristics, and whether and to what extent these perceptions are affected by their short- or long-term imprisonment and the crime they did or did not commit.