Mothers in Prison

This book which is based on seven interviewsconducted in a Texas women's prison focuses onstories told by a few of the growing number ofmothers incarcerated in American prisons.Incarcerated mothers' stories deal with thechallenges of motherhood before during and afterincarceration offering a nuanced picture of socialand psychological contexts that surrounddisadvantaged mothers with unrealistic social norms.The sum of these women's experiences-material andpsychological-adds up to a counter-narrativecritiquing the dominant culture's ideas of whatmothers should be and how the system fails toprovide opportunities to disadvantaged parents.This study analyzes the rhetorical strategies ofincarcerated mothers to determine what strategiessilenced groups utilize in the development ofcounter-narratives.