Contact between mothers inside prison and their children outside prison may be severely and/or inappropriately restricted. In some countries, mothers are temporarily separated (such as by stopping visits) from the children to punish the mother (Robertson, 2008). Children are a life-sustaining force for many prisoners, and breaking up the bond between the mother and child is often punishment of the worst kind for the mother (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2008) and strongly affects her physical and mental health. It also punishes the child, who has done nothing wrong. .
