Jail Baby: Stories about Children Born in Prison

This is a conversation with Hope McIntyre concerning her latest play Jail Baby co-written with Cairn Moore. It presents the life of character Jasmine, a composite fictional protagonist demonstrating the lives of women who are in prison and who have or who are about to give birth to children in prison. Jail Baby was created in partnership with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Manitoba after recognizing the need to share the stories of incarcerated women and women moving in and out of the justice system. Work and research was conducted over 3 years with actual women incarcerated in Alberta and Manitoba. Hope and Cairn held workshops with participants that allowed the research and discussion to be frank and worthy of presenting the stories of incarcerated women. 

While it is not just an Aboriginal story, 1/3 of all women in prison are Aboriginal and it is a too common experience in various segments of society. Activist Sel Burrow feels that prison should be the final answer to issues of poverty, racism and social conditions that too many of these women face. The interesting work of Hope and Cairn is the idea that while in prison rehabilitation needs to occur in order to break the negative support groups that congregate around these women, replacing them with positive support groups.  At the completion of the writing of the play the women who participated were given the chance to review the work, make comments, offer input and act out various scenes. During the production of the play (May 16-23, 2013) many of the women will be present, and there will be a chance to discuss directly with the actors and women afterwards.

Taken from Sarasvàti Productions

Jasmine bursts into the world unlike your typical new born child and is anointed a “jail baby.” Born in prison, raised by a mother who revolves in and out of the correctional system, tossed in and out of foster care, Jasmine is destined to become one of society’s monsters. When she finds herself pregnant and facing her most serious charge yet, Jasmine is horrified at the thought of having her unborn child repeat her life of despair.

Through a series of hilarious parodies, the myths of prison life for incarcerated women are presented and weaved together with Jasmine’s journey. From bad prison B movies to Kangaroo Court, the ensemble of characters turn common beliefs on their heads in order to make the audience question their preconceptions of criminalized women.

Jail Baby

World Premiere
by Hope McIntyre and Cairn Moore
with Nan Fewchuk and Marsha Knight
May 16-26, 2013
Asper Centre for Theatre and Film
(at the University of Winnipeg, 400 Colony Street)
Directed by Ann Hodges
Set/Costume Design by Abigail Myers
Lighting Design by Dean Cowieson
Sound Design by Chris Coyne
Stage Manager Matthew Lagacé
Featuring: Ashley Chartrand, Melanie Dean, Shannon Guile, Daina Leitold, Megan McArton, Tracey Nepinak and Cory Wojcik.

To Learn More (Interview and Podcast)https://archive.org/details/HopeMcintryeMixdown 
https://ia601704.us.archive.org/1/items/HopeMcintryeMixdown/hope%20mcintrye%20mixdown%20.mp3 


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