Prison Movies by Kevin Kehrwald

Author:Kevin Kehrwald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: PER004030, Performing Arts/Film & Video/History & Criticism, PER004020, Performing Arts/Film & Video/Guides & Reviews
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2016-06-12T04:00:00+00:00

In 1962 and 1965, Public Welfare Amendments were passed which stipulated that parents should not be allowed to receive child care benefits unless there was a real need, ‘broadly construed to mean having a mother who worked, no matter what her income level’ (Michel 1999: 243). Though the amendments did provide money for day care, they were actually an attempt to reduce overall welfare payments by requiring women to work or enroll in job training programmes to receive the benefit. The highly contentious issue of child care – of who should provide it, who should pay for it, and what strings should be attached to it – is one that appears in subtle and not-so-subtle ways throughout House of Women.

After Erica’s arrival, the film jumps forward three years to a cafeteria scene, where the children eat with their mothers and other inmates. After lunch, the mothers drop their children off to the nursery where the matrons watch over them so that the mothers can continue their ‘jobs’ of being inmates. As Erica places her daughter in her crib, she says: ‘You have a good nap and I’ll see you at supper’, revealing that the matrons watch over the children for the majority of the day. Moments later, Erica and the other women are shown playing baseball in the yard, appearing to enjoy the break from their children. When their recreational time is over, the women proceed to the shop, where they spend the rest of the day sewing uniforms. In the evening, the children are returned to their mothers in the communal cell block. It is a world made up of working mothers, stay at ‘home’ moms, extended ‘family’ and friends, and state-funded child care providers, all working in tandem to help raise the children. In any other context, the arrangement might be viewed as one that affords working mothers a healthy balance of quality time with their children, socialisation with other women, and financial independence through honest labour. In the context of prison, however, it seems a perverse parody of what many women were striving for in actuality.

A challenge to the harmonious system arrives in the form of the new warden, Frank Cole (Andrew Duggan). During a meeting with the doctor and the assistant warden, Zoe Stoughton (Margaret Hayes), Cole goes over the expenses and complains first about the milk bill. When the doctor explains that the milk is for the babies, Cole states: ‘If I had my way they wouldn’t be here’, deeming them both an undue burden on the state and a luxury the women shouldn’t be allowed. In order to cut costs, he orders that the lights be turned off a half an hour earlier, altering the working rhythm of the inmates’ daily lives. When Conrad informs him that the previous warden felt ‘the welfare of the inmates was more important than a few dollars’, Cole scoffs at the notion of welfare for ‘pickpockets, check kiters, blackmailers, drunks, prostitutes, hop-heads’, all of whom he considers subhuman.

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