By Belinda Nolan
SEVEN children are living behind the barbed wire at Deer Park’s women’s prison.
Information obtained by Star from the Department of Justice revealed there are seven children currently living at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre with their criminal mums as part of the prison’s award-winning mother and child program.
The pre school-aged children live with their mothers in separate units which have been specifically designed for those on the program.
The prison grounds are fitted with play equipment to cater for the youngsters.
The prison also has a range of supervised parenting and playgroup programs available to assist imprisoned parents.
A Department of Justice spokeswoman told Star there was a rigorous selection process for the program with potential candidates assessed based on their crimes, along with safety and security issues.
Only mothers who had custody of their children outside, or gave birth in prison are eligible to apply.
The Mothers and Children program has a full time support worker who is responsible for monitoring the safety and wellbeing of prison children.
A Maternal Child Health Nurse also visits the prison regularly to ensure the nutritional and health requirements of babies and toddlers are being met.
The decision to allow children in prison is made by a steering committee, which includes representatives from the prison and the Department of Human Resources.
The steering committee receives monthly reports on the welfare of all children in the program.
There are currently 269 women imprisoned in the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre for a variety of crimes including minor offences to murder.
More than half of the women are aged between 25-39.
The prison has a combination of single and shared cells with medium security units housing 10 prisoners in separate rooms and minimum security units accommodating five.
Each unit has kitchen facilities with prisoners required to cook their own meals and do their own washing, ironing and housework.
Each cell is fitted out with a television but internet and cable television are banned.
