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The experience of pregnant prisoners: Exploring Emotions .

The experience of pregnant prisoners: Exploring Emotions. The Incarcerated Pregnancy: what is the experience of being pregnant in prison? Laura Abbott Senior Midwifery Lecturer, University of Hertfordshire. 4 th year Doctoral student. WHAT WE KNOW.

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The experience of pregnant prisoners: Exploring Emotions .

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  1. The experience of pregnant prisoners: Exploring Emotions. The Incarcerated Pregnancy: what is the experience of being pregnant in prison? Laura Abbott Senior Midwifery Lecturer, University of Hertfordshire. 4th year Doctoral student

  2. WHAT WE KNOW • Approx. 6% of the 4000 women incarcerated are pregnant • Many discover pregnancy on admission to prison • 50% victims of domestic abuse • 30% report having suffered some form of sexual abuse in childhood • 20% have no permanent address • 60 – 70% are drug or alcohol dependent • 80% MH illness of varying degrees • 80% on some form of medication (methadone to anti-depressants) • 18,000 children are affected by their mothers being in prison each year (Corston, 2007; Ministry of Justice, 2016, North, 2006 and Gullberg, 2013).

  3. WHAT WE DON’T KNOW • Very little known about pregnant women in the prison system globally • Scarce qualitative research looking specifically at experiences of childbearing • What are the needs of the woman who is pregnant?

  4. Research to date Fieldwork • Access • Fieldwork • Observing prison environment and routines Interviews with women: • 8 women in prison (multiple interviews) • 6 women post release • Ongoing: snowball sampling in prison and recruitment through service user group • Interviews with staff

  5. Being pregnant in prison Negatives Positives Kind gestures from staff Social relationships with other women Birth Companions support Opportunity for change A safe place • Unwanted attention from other prisoners • Stress • Feeling hungry / cravings (pregnancy sensations) • Clothes • Anxiety (pending separation) • Fear of giving birth in prison • Blocking emotions • Dehumanising natural responses to pregnancy

  6. Women’s experiences Reception into prison “It was a shock, a shock…. and I was thinking, I have got a baby inside me and I am not going to be free until my baby is home and holding my hand” Personal space “ they want to touch your bump and you know you can’t say to them “can you not do that please” ..” Experiences of labour “it’s like they are my keepers and I didn’t want to turn around and say to my keeper “oh can I get off my bed and go on a birthing ball?””

  7. Women’s experiences Humiliation and stigma • “I carry big babies and um I was ready to drop and I was in handcuffs and that is the most degraded I have ever felt… even worse than being sentenced” Anxiety about separation from baby • “it’s the biggest fear ….. it's already happened to me twice, I’ve given birth, they’ve come in to the hospital and said ‘you’re not going home with this baby’” Attachment ambiguity • “ I didn’t tell anyone but I thought it’s not nice, it’s not nice in here for her its not good for her in here but as soon as I fed it’s different isn’t it?...

  8. Birth Companions • Support in 3 prisons • Have supported over 1500 women • Pregnancy and post birth groups • Practical support through provision of essential items (e.g. correctly fitting bra) • Emotional support & advocacy during labour • Helping a woman prepare for separation if she does not have an MBU place • Support postnatally whether or not she has her baby with her

  9. The Birth Charterlaunches on 26th May 2016www.birthcompanions.org.uk • Written by the charity Birth Companions with service users, supported by the RCM with guidance from UNICEF UK Baby Friendly initiative • Guidance for care backed by evidence and research findings • To help the prison service to provide the humane and consistent care to which women are entitled • Hope to form the basis of a PSO for women for care in the antenatal, birth and postnatal period

  10. http://www.birthcompanions.org.ukYou can go to the website and request your copy of the Birth Charter 

  11. New knowledge • Hunger and cravings • Visible vulnerability, nowhere to hide • Suppression of love and attachment as protection from anguish of separation (attachment ambiguity) • Inconsistency of entitlements • Disempowered body • Anticipatory emotions: separation, release from prison • Pregnancy as a catalyst for changing behaviour

  12. Life post release: resilience, desistence and survival “I can’t believe I did it… I don’t know how I coped, I don’t know how I did it as a woman……… But as a woman I did.” “Jane”

  13. Next steps • Continuing with interviews and observation • Deeper analysis of data • Birth charter for pregnant women in prison to drive forward PSO for pregnant women in prison. • Writing up and submitting. • Influencing government policy. • Recommendations for change.

  14. Finally • Thank you to the women who have so generously shared their stories with me and continue to do so. I welcome your questions and comments! l.abbott@herts.ac.uk @midwifeteacher Follow @brthcompanions For news about The Birth Charter! www.birthcompanions.org.uk to sign up for your copy.

  15. REFERENCES • Abbott L. (2014) ‘The pregnant woman in prison’. ECAN Bulletin (23). The Howard League for Penal Reform. • Abbott L. (2015) ‘A Pregnant Pause: Expecting in the Prison Estate’, in Baldwin, L. (eds.) Mothering Justice: Working with Mothers in Criminal and Social Justice Settings. Hampshire: Waterside Press. • Albertson, K, O’Keeffe C, Burke,C, Lessing-Turner G, and Renfrew M (2014). "Addressing Health Inequalities for Mothers and Babies in Prison." Health and Inequality: Applying Public Health Research to Policy and Practice . 39. • Barbour, R. S. (2007) Introducing Qualitative Research: A Student’s Guide to the Craft of Doing Qualitative Research. 1st edn. London: Sage Publications Ltd, United Kingdom • Corston 2007 Home Office (2007) The Corston Report: A review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system • Gullberg S (2013) State of the Estate: Women in Prison’s Report on the Women’s Custodial Estate 2011-2012. Women in Prison.  • Jewkes, Y. (2011) ‘Autoethnography and Emotion as Intellectual Resources: Doing Prison Research Differently’, Qualitative Inquiry, 18(1), pp. 63–75. • Kennedy A, Marshall D, Parkinson D, Delap N & Abbott L (2016) Birth Charter for Women in Prisons in England and Wales. Birth Companions. • Liebling, A. and Maruna, S. (2006) The Effects of Imprisonment (Cambridge Criminal Justice). United Kingdom: Willan Publishing. • Marshall D (2010) Birth Companions: Working with Women in Prison After Giving Birth. British Journal of Midwifery. Vol 18, No.4 p225 -228 • Ministry of Justice (2015) Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System: A Ministry of Justice Publication under Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 • National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2010) Pregnancy and complex social factors: A model for service provision for pregnant women with complex social factors Quick reference guide. http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG110 {accessed 26/09/12}. • North, J (2006) Getting it Right? Services for pregnant women, new mothers and babies in prison. Maternity Alliance, London  • RCM (2008) Position Paper: care for the Pregnant Prisoner. RCM

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