Accidental Carceral Subjects: Reassessing the Prison Nursery Model in India

Abstract

This Article critically examines the Indian prison nursery model from a sociolegal perspective. Although framed as a reform to uphold child rights, the policy of allowing children to live with their incarcerated mothers until the age of six obscures the inherently punitive and harmful nature of carceral institutions to these children.

The Article argues that the purported “choice” mothers have to keep their children with them in prison is profoundly shaped by structural inequality—while women with access to resources may arrange external care, those without are left with no meaningful alternative. This coerced caregiving compromises children’s constitutional rights and situates maternal labor within carceral control. The Article also critiques the state’s heavy reliance on nonprofit organizations to operate prison nurseries, exposing the uneven, unsustainable, and often ad hoc nature of these arrangements. Rather than mitigating harm, such reforms often entrench carceral logics under the guise of care.

Ultimately, the Article calls for a shift away from reformatory models toward abolitionist frameworks that center the dignity, rights, and autonomy of both mothers and children. It urges a radical reimagining of the state’s response to maternal incarceration, one that dismantles carceral systems and enables mothers and children to live together and thrive beyond prison walls.