Prison Born Research Paper

Kandyce Mullings

Prof. Stollman

Enc1102

T R 3:30

Research Paper

April 19, 2016

Prison Born: Research Paper

Imagine finding out you are pregnant and instead of shopping for cute maternity outfits you’re wearing a black and white jumpsuit. According to American Journal of Public Health, “between 6 and 10 percent of incarcerated women are pregnant; in one year alone, 1,400 women gave birth while incarcerated in the United States.” Some might not even know that they’re pregnant. Kebby Warner is a 25-year-old married prisoner in Michigan who was imprisoned for littering and passing a $350 stolen check. She writes, “My first month in prison was spent being sick. I was told by health care that my ‘illness’ was caused by stomach flu and that my other

Are the authorities being punished or is another injustice swept under the rug? After multiple different strategies on finding the answers to these questions they were left unanswered. That just shows me how ‘important’ this topic is to the United States. Incarcerated pregnant women are being held as if they’re an alien species. It’s a sad, disappointing case that these women have to face, yes, they have committed a crime and yes, they are serving their time but when it comes to childbirth and being pregnant why are they being treated so indifferently? It doesn’t make any sense as to why the government has not done any investigating or to why this topic has not been brought up in legal matters. Some women have gone out and told their story but what good has that gotten them? Where has that taken them? What kind of justice have they gotten? NONE. According to The Guardian, “In Arizona, complaints about prison medical care prompted the ACLU and the Prison Law Office to file a class-action suit in 2012. An accompanying investigation uncovered two incidents in the summer of 2013 when officials at the state prison in Perryville dismissed women’s claims that they were going into labor. One woman said that it took two hours to convince the guards to transport her to the hospital. She gave birth 20 minutes after arrival. The other said nurses refused to believe her water had broken even after it tested

According to International Buisness Times, “Virginia’s Board of Corrections this month announced the adoption of new regulatory language to restrict the use of restraints on incarcerated pregnant women, a decision met with praise by a coalition of women’s rights advocates, prison reform groups and religious organizations. “Many in the medical community, including the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association, acknowledge that the use of restraints may cause serious health risks to both the mother and baby, especially with each advancing stage of pregnancy. These proposed regulations provide reasonable and compassionate reform essential for the full health and well-being of both the mother and baby,” said in a statement the coalition, which includes organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Aid Justice Center and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Finally somebody is doing something, someone sees what actually is going down and what problems it’s