The First-Ever Federal Report on Prison Pregnancies is Missing Crucial Details

Filed
12:00 p.m. EDT

05.10.2025

A brand new report sheds mild on pregnant folks behind bars, however misses their lived expertise.

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When the Bureau of Justice Statistics launched the first-ever nationwide take a look at reproductive points in state and federal prisons in April, it answered some long-standing questions, whereas elevating just a few extra, about being pregnant and maternal care behind bars.

Although girls are the fastest-growing section of the jail inhabitants, no company tracks very important statistics on being pregnant and reproductive care in state and federal prisons. The BJS launch lined just a few key knowledge factors: The variety of pregnant folks in state and federal prisons in 2023, the outcomes of their pregnancies over the course of the 12 months, and the form of maternal well being companies that prisons say they supply. It doesn’t embody non-public amenities and native jails, the place pregnancies are way more widespread.

Whereas the BJS knowledge is now probably the most complete take a look at what occurs in our state and federal prisons, it’s lacking an enormous piece of the story. A fast scan of the findings might counsel that prisons do an excellent job of taking good care of pregnant folks as a result of they provide many important maternal care companies. However with out accompanying narratives from the tons of of pregnant folks in jail, it’s arduous to understand how these companies are literally used.

Extra importantly, the anecdotal tales which have trickled out of prisons through the years counsel that being pregnant behind bars is a harrowing expertise at greatest.

Right here’s a fast snapshot of what the BJS discovered of their examine of fifty states and the federal jail system. On Dec. 31, 2023, there have been over 300 pregnant girls within the 49 jurisdictions that supplied knowledge. In that calendar 12 months, there have been 727 pregnancies that led to start or another final result. The overwhelming majority of these girls — 91% — had dwell births. Roughly 6% miscarried, 2% terminated their pregnancies, and some had a stillbirth or an ectopic being pregnant. The BJS didn’t monitor toddler or maternal mortality.

Researchers have identified that these findings don’t sq. with earlier knowledge assortment efforts on being pregnant outcomes in prisons and jails. In 2016, researchers at Johns Hopkins College performed the primary large-scale knowledge assortment of being pregnant behind bars, which included 22 states, a handful of jails and the Bureau of Prisons. The researchers discovered that roughly 4% of girls in 22 states examined optimistic for being pregnant upon coming into jail, in comparison with the two% the BJS discovered throughout practically all states and the BOP.

The BJS launch additionally supplied a snapshot of maternal healthcare behind bars. The overwhelming majority of jail programs mentioned they examined for being pregnant throughout consumption, educated workers on tips on how to take care of pregnant girls, and had infrastructure in place to take care of pregnant folks on web site or a plan in place to switch them off-site. Each jurisdiction mentioned they supplied routine medical appointments, together with post-delivery follow-ups. And practically all amenities mentioned they provided screening for postpartum melancholy.

Earlier reviews name into query girls’s entry to those important companies. Final 12 months, the U.S. Authorities Accountability Workplace revealed its findings on being pregnant in prisons and jails. The GAO recognized quite a few obstacles to care, together with copayments that pressured incarcerated girls to pay for their very own medical care, stigma from guards and primary logistical challenges of transportation to off-site appointments. Not like the BJS knowledge, the GAO inspectors performed a qualitative evaluation, talking instantly with a handful of jail officers and greater than two dozen incarcerated pregnant and postpartum girls. Additionally they reviewed a decade of analysis on being pregnant and maternal care behind bars.

When requested about their care, a number of the girls shared their challenges. A number of of the ladies interviewed mentioned the care they obtained was “okay, or had combined emotions.” Two mentioned the care they obtained was “not good, or that their wants weren’t addressed by care suppliers.” One girl instructed the inspectors that she didn’t obtain the remedy she was prescribed. One other mentioned she requested for melancholy remedy and temper stabilizers to be restarted after giving start, however didn’t obtain them. One girl requested to be taken to the hospital for low blood stress, however was denied.

Jail guards are a significant impediment. All prisoners, together with pregnant folks, must undergo corrections officers to get medical care. In a 2020 article for the Harvard Regulation Evaluation, Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, a number one researcher on reproductive points behind bars, says that corrections officers mustn’t stand between pregnant folks and entry to reproductive care. Signs of being pregnant problems may be delicate. “Mild bleeding, cramping, or perhaps a headache” could possibly be indicators of labor or one thing extra critical that requires speedy medical consideration, she famous. When a lady comes ahead with a priority, guards are tasked with making their very own “unqualified evaluation” on whether or not she wants care.

In six states — Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Nevada and Washington — guards obtain no coaching on tips on how to take care of pregnant prisoners, the BJS report discovered.

“A pregnant individual in custody doesn’t have the liberty to name their well being care supplier or an ambulance or to go to a hospital, however should as an alternative notify a custody officer who serves, functionally, because the gatekeeper to a pregnant individual accessing medical personnel,” Sufrin famous.

Pregnant persons are additionally susceptible to the informal cruelty that may pervade jail tradition. At York Correctional Establishment in Connecticut, one girl wound up giving start into a bathroom in 2018. The girl’s mom, Karine Laboy, testified in entrance of Congress final 12 months as a part of an inquiry into being pregnant situations in prisons and jails, led by Sen. John Ossoff, chair of the U.S. Senate’s Human Rights Subcommittee.

Laboy instructed senators that her daughter started bleeding whereas utilizing the lavatory. Safety footage exhibits that she positioned a T-shirt between her legs and tried to stroll to breakfast. When she returned, the shirt was soaked in blood. She referred to as out for assist, however no one got here. “My granddaughter was born into the bathroom bowl,” Laboy testified. “When jail medical workers lastly arrived, their response was merciless and insensitive. They joked that my granddaughter had ‘took her first swim’ and proceeded to chop her umbilical twine inside a grimy jail cell.”

Earlier this 12 months, Ossoff launched a invoice that will require state amenities to report knowledge on pregnant and postpartum prisoners to the U.S. Lawyer Basic. Failure to report would lead to a ten% discount in federal funding. Ossoff’s inquiry “uncovered pervasive abuse of pregnant girls in jail,” together with pressured C-sections, unlawful shackling and punitive denials of postpartum care. The invoice, which was referred to the Judiciary Committee in February, is an try and right the longstanding info hole in regards to the experiences of pregnant folks behind bars.

Higher knowledge might assist guarantee girls obtain higher care, researchers argue. Ossoff’s invoice would gather a wider vary of data than the BJS report. States must present particulars on whether or not or not girls obtained pre- and postnatal care and when. And it might require the lawyer basic’s workplace to conduct a examine to know the connection between jail practices and stillbirths, miscarriages, and toddler and maternal deaths.

“With out knowledge, we can’t know the complete scope of the issues — and their options,” Sufrin testified throughout the inquiry final summer season. “Our nation’s conscience should see that what occurs — or doesn’t occur — to pregnant girls behind bars is a human rights challenge.”