Women Are Becoming A Growing Epidemic Of The Prison System

Restraining pregnant prisoners at any time increases their potential for physical harm from an accidental trip or fall. This also poses a risk of serious harm to the woman’s fetus, including the potential for miscarriage. During labor, delivery and postpartum recovery, shackling can interfere with appropriate medical care and be

An important issue that has to be dealt with is sentencing women that are pregnant or just gave birth. One reason for this is acknowledging the high potential health risk a pregnant female can face in a correctional facility. For example, a woman that is pregnant has to professional pregnancy treatment. This means if the correction

Care for pregnant women is even more dismal, considering their additional health needs” (p. 11). The quantitative report goes on to state that many pregnant offenders have undiagnosed or untreated conditions that can increase the pregnancy risks and contribute to poor birth outcomes. Mothers Behind Bars surveyed all 50 states regarding prenatal care and found: 43 states did not require medical examinations as a component of prenatal care; 41 states did not require prenatal nutrition counseling or the provision of appropriate nutrition; 34 states did not require screening and treatment for high-risk pregnancies; 48 states did not offer advice on activity levels and safety during pregnancy; 45 states did not make advance arrangements for deliveries with particular hospitals; and 49 states failed to report all incarcerated women’s pregnancies and their outcomes (The Rebecca Project for Human Rights and the National Women's Law Center, 2010). Researchers did not list under limitations of their findings if obstetric care was provided inside or contracted to an outside care provider. This information would have been beneficial and may have affected the state’s responses to the survey questions. Ferszt and Clarke (2012) conducted a qualitative survey of 50 wardens, a warden at a women’s correctional

Women usually have the same type of story, on the reason they decided to get involved in drugs. Some women have the drugs introduced to them by their family or friends (Mallicoat, 2012). Others began this habit to cope with violence or abuse in their early childhood (Mallicoat, 2012). About half of the women who are incarcerated are in prison for some sort of drug offense; either for selling or for drug use. Introducing prevention programs, life skills training, mental health training, and other basic needs can help reduce the percentage of women going back to their habit and staying away from incarceration (Mcvay et. al, 2004). By just putting women in prison, instead of actually looking into the reason they are using drugs are not helping them and might even increase the risk of them returning to prison or the risk of further criminal activity. Treating drug use as a medical problem, with programs for drug addiction, can help the women from getting incarcerated. Viewing women as victims in scenarios like drug use being a medical problem or prostitution can ultimately help reduce the percentage of incarcerated women.

Benidalys Rivera is one of seven women to give birth while in the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in 2013. In 2013, Benidalys was convicted to serve two and a half years in Chicopee jail for trafficking cocaine. She started to have contractions in her cell, late in the evening. One of the male correctional officers immediately put shackles on her hands, and he left the shackles on her in the hospital labor room. He told Benidalys that he would take the off the shackles on her ankles when she reaches active labor. However, she never entered active labor and the shackles never were taken off. The doctors had to perform a caesarean section (Berg). Benidalys walked around the hospital “she felt embarrassed as nurses and other patients looked on” (Berg) while having only her assigned nurse for comfort. Benidalys took care of her infant for only two days before they had to separate. The infant, named E.J. taken with the biological father’s family, and Benidalys taken back to the institution. Growing up for two and a half years without visiting his mother because the father’s family lived far away from the prison (Berg). The Department of Corrections of each state needs to consider the well-being of incarcerated women and their children in order to prevent the poor upbringing of the children, to prevent repeat offenders, and to create laws protecting

In a country where there are more jails than colleges and a total incarceration population of 2.3 million and eighteen percent being female, it is no surprise that there are roughly 2,000 babies born to female inmates annually. At any given time, between eight and ten percent of the females incarcerated in the United States are pregnant. Currently, only ten states allow a mother to remain with her child after giving birth. For the other mothers, they are to give the baby to a reliable family member within 48 hours otherwise it will be placed in foster care. The current number of women in prison is at an all time high, and while the number for pregnant incarcerated females continues to grow, there is still limited medical treatment for mothers

(Ferst & Erickson-Owens, 2008) Many of these women were lacking education, had been unemployed or underemployed and were lacking adequate health insurance prior to being incarcerated. (Siefert & Pimlott, 2001) In general, most women enter the prison system with a plethora of physical and emotional obstacles; in addition, the health concerns of pregnancy and childbirth increase the challenges presented to institution medical staff to provide the necessary medical and emotional support that this woman will need. The prison health care system has improved considerably over recent years, especially in the area of women’s health and mental health services, often times due to intervention by health, women and civil rights advocacy groups. (Birth, 2000)

Women 's prisons in general are much more different and complicated than a men 's prison. When entering a women 's prison, the first thing that you need to know is it has changed significantly over the years. Women first began to make an appearance in prisons in the earlier years, but were not heavily charged as comparison to men. In the earlier years of the 1870’s the United States began placing women in correctional facilities separate from men. It was on July 27, 1873 when the first female prison opened. As well as the men prisons, women faced bad conditions and treatments where they suffered tremendously. Some of the things they experienced were overcrowding, cruel punishments and prohibition to recreation or interaction time. (Timetoast)

For many years it has been frowned upon to see women in prison. The rate of women in prison is currently higher than it has been in the past. Many of these women that are being incarcerated are leaving behind their families. This could be unfortunate for both the mother and child. For some women, they are still with the child while entering prison. In prisons and jails in the United States 10% of the women population that are incarcerated are pregnant (Hotelling, B. A., Perinatal needs of pregnant, incarcerated women, 2008). Those women who are pregnant may not receive adequate care for themselves or their growing child.

Men and women in the United States prison system face an adversity of challenges in many aspects of their lives. One area where incarcerated individuals face a hardship is the access to healthcare they receive while they are imprisoned. Access to screenings, check-ups, medications, and treatment for diseases may be limited. Women are particularly vulnerable to inconsistent healthcare if they are pregnant while in prison. They may not receive all the necessary prenatal or postpartum care. This will have an impact on the mother’s health and the health of the newborn. Implementing complete nursing care for incarcerated pregnant women can ensure a safe and healthy outcome for the newborn and the mother.

As the population of incarcerated women continues to rise, so too does the population of incarcerated pregnant women. The question for state governments is whether to continue the policy of removing new children from inmate mothers after birth, or to adopt a more progressive policy of allowing mothers to keep their babies while they are incarcerated. This article addresses the recent history of U.S. prison nurseries and discusses the current nursery program in the state of Nebraska, which is the second oldest operational program in the country.

Hence, the rise of women in the US correctional systems, addressing the issue of pregnancy and child birth among incarcerated women is paramount to promote safety and health of women and newborns (Sutherland ,2013). That is why this Mothering Unit includes its own special medical health center, nursery, play ground, and cells big enough for the mother and

Joby Gardner, in an April 2010 study of incarcerated young men published in Youth and Society, stated that working – class Brown and Black young men face very difficult transitions, as they are overrepresented in the justice system, in poverty statistics, in foster care, special education; and, among victims of violence . In spite of the scarcity of documented research or other information concerning mothers of incarcerated children, perhaps the design for a plan of support for mothers should draw on information and research presented in examining the challenges mothers and children experience from the incarceration of mothers or fathers. Any design to support and meet the needs of a mother who is experiencing the incarceration of a child should definitely seek to meet the needs of not only the mother, but also the incarcerated child as well as the other siblings; and, the father if he is present.

O’Brien is an associate Professor and writer at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She argues that the U.S should not incarcerate women anymore and close all women’s prisons. She claims that there are far more men in prisons than women. Only seven percent of the prison population are women. O’Brien questions if

Within the chapter “How Gender Structures the prison system” the issue of sexual assault behind prison walls is brought to light. Female prisoners were being sexually violated and humiliated. Davis states throughout this passage that woman experience sexualy assault, before and after they enter the prison system. Personally, after reading this chapter and reading external sources, I feel that women became the targets for sexual abuse by an authority figure. Whomever commits these heinous acts are using their role of authority as a coverup to inflict pain on these individuals. In the prison writings of Kate Richards O’Hare, we see her share a view similar to Davis. O’Hare states, “I found that under the guise of punishment for crime, and in