Prioritizing Protection: How Jailed Women Challenge Maternal Stigma

Using interview data from 23 mothers in jail, we detail how jailed mothers use oppositional identity work to challenge maternal stigma. Their reframing of “good” mothering prioritizes children’s emotional security and physical safety over intensive, hands-on child-care. Findings suggest that oppositional identity work helps mothers cope with internal and external attributions of maternal failure. Findings also highlight the limits of oppositional identity work from the margins for countering entrenched social norms. We conclude with a call to build correctional practices and policies that reflect the lived realities of marginalized mothers in ways that support rather than stigmatize them.