| Summary: | Is there any more uncertain motherhood than the prisoners’ in the 19th century? In the prison machine supposed to be well-oiled, women’s wombs stir up trouble by introducing subversive elements. Children are born and grow up in penitentiaries despite the prohibiting rules. This constitutes an incoherent management which reflects the debates dividing the penitentiary administration : should motherhood be allowed to criminals, reputably bad mothers? Is it a tool of moralisation for marginalised women or does it constitute an unacceptable preferential treatment? What care and future is there for these children in a society where home is the responsibility of mothers? By integrating a sex singularity into feminine seclusion, childbirth brings a new question : what place should be assigned to kinship gender norms inside the prison? The aim of the present article is to analyse the evolution of this management, its effects on gendered relations, prison life, and the convicts’ sociability.
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