A new book, co-authored by Dr Lucy Baldwin, an Honorary Fellow in our Department of Sociology, is calling on the UK justice system to stop sending pregnant women to prison, or risk further tragedies for mothers and babies.
The book is the first to examine pregnancy and new motherhood in UK prisons and has been written following the high-profile deaths of two babies after their mothers gave birth in UK prisons.
Dr Baldwin and her co-author Dr Laura Abbott from the University of Hertfordshire are calling for imprisonment of pregnant women to be a last resort.
Instead, the duo argues there are opportunities for prisons, social workers and magistrates to work together to provide better justice for pregnant women.
They believe this starts with all agencies having a clearer understanding of what it is like to be pregnant in prison.
Both authors have hands-on experience in the field, Baldwin as a qualified social worker and probation officer and Abbott as a midwife (Abbott).
Their book, which includes first-hand accounts from women with experience of pregnancy in prison, puts forward a number of recommendations for how pregnancy can be better managed in prison, including;
Their recommendations draw on their own extensive research and trials Dr Baldwin has developed with Sodexo, operators of His Majesty’s Prison Peterborough, which involved the establishment of a dedicated pregnancy wing, and enhanced staff training and prisoner support.
Dr Baldwin also worked with Sodexo to progress the facilitation of women prisoners to give birth on release on temporary license – something the authors would like to see rolled out across all female prisons.
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