Infant and Maternal Outcomes for Women Who Experience Imprisonment in Ontario, Canada: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Ramirez, Alison Carter; Liauw, Jessica; Costescu, Dustin; Holder, Laura; Lu, Hong; Kouyoumdjian, Fiona G.

doi:10.1016/j.jogc.2019.11.068

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Women experiencing imprisonment in North America lack access to reproductive healthcare [1][2][3]. Studies in two prisons in Canada and the US, respectively, both found that approximately 80% of women in prison had an unmet need for contraception [1,4], and internationally, women who experience imprisonment are found to have less access to prenatal care and higher rates of pregnancy complications, such as preterm birth and low birth weight, compared with women in the general population [5][6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive healthcare in prison: A qualitative study of women’s experiences and perspectives in Ontario, Canada

et al. 2021

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Objective To explore women’s experiences and perspectives of reproductive healthcare in prison. Methods We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured focus groups in 2018 with women in a provincial prison in Ontario, Canada. We asked participants about their experiences and perspectives of pregnancy and contraception related to healthcare in prison. We used a combination of deductive and inductive content analysis to categorize data. A concept map was generated using a reproductive justice framework. Results The data reflected three components of a reproductive justice framework: 1) women have limited access to healthcare in prison, 2) reproductive safety and dignity influence attitudes toward pregnancy and contraception, and 3) women in prison want better reproductive healthcare. Discrimination and stigma were commonly invoked throughout women’s experiences in seeking reproductive healthcare. Conclusions Improving reproductive healthcare for women in prison is crucial to promoting reproductive justice in this population. Efforts to increase access to comprehensive, responsive, and timely reproductive healthcare should be informed by the needs and desires of women in prison and should actively seek to reduce their experience of discrimination and stigma in this context.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive healthcare in prison: A qualitative study of women’s experiences and perspectives in Ontario, Canada

et al. 2021

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“…At the time of each pregnancy, we accessed data on age, parity, specific medical diagnoses ever, and mental health diagnoses in the past 2 years using health administrative data. 11 …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Women who experience imprisonment tend to have poor health compared with the general population across a variety of health status indicators 7 and are at higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes compared with the general population. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 That notwithstanding, data are lacking on antenatal care and challenges faced by pregnant women in prison. 12 In a survey of wardens of 19 correctional facilities in the US, Ferszt et al 9 found significant deficits in the care of pregnant women, including unmet nutritional needs, lack of access to primary care physicians, lack of access to lower bunks, and the routine use of restraints during transport and during labor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of Antenatal Care for Women Who Experience Imprisonment in Ontario, Canada

et al. 2020

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“…Other research has examined the consequences of incarceration on pregnancy outcomes (Sufrin et al, 2019) and the perinatal health of both women and their babies. They have observed negative consequences, including but not limited to miscarriages, low birth weight and preterm birth (Carter Ramirez et al, 2020;Testa & Jackson, 2020b). These adverse outcomes may be due, in part, to the psychological and physical conditions of incarceration (Testa & Jackson, 2020a;Testa et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Process of Becoming a Mother in French Prison Nurseries: A Qualitative Study

Ogrizek

Lachal

Moro

2021

Matern Child Health J

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Background Many variables can influence the process of motherhood, including environmental precarity and personal adversity. One about which little is known is the impact of incarceration on women during or after pregnancy. In France, pregnant women or those with children up to 18 months old can be incarcerated with their child in specific units called nurseries. We sought to explore incarcerated women's experience of motherhood in prison environments and its potential consequences on the construction of their identity as mothers. Method We conducted semi-structured interviews to collect the experience of the process of motherhood among 25 mothers and 5 pregnant women in 13 different prison nurseries in France and used interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore the data. Results Four different themes emerged: prison conflates their status as inmates and as mothers; it limits their freedom as mothers; it disrupts their family structure; and motherhood may help distinguish them from other inmates. Conclusion Incarceration of pregnant women or young mothers in prison nurseries might disrupt the process involved in becoming mothers, causing their identities as prisoners to englobe their identities as mothers and resulting in inappropriate parenting support by prison staff. A professional specialized in peripartum issues should help each woman disentangle her identity as inmate and mother and enable her placement at the facility best adapted to her individual needs as a mother. In any case, if prison must continue to be possible, it must always be a last alternative for women with young children.

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Infant and Maternal Outcomes for Women Who Experience Imprisonment in Ontario, Canada: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Cited by 20 publications

References 18 publications

Reproductive healthcare in prison: A qualitative study of women’s experiences and perspectives in Ontario, Canada

Reproductive healthcare in prison: A qualitative study of women’s experiences and perspectives in Ontario, Canada

Quality of Antenatal Care for Women Who Experience Imprisonment in Ontario, Canada

The Process of Becoming a Mother in French Prison Nurseries: A Qualitative Study

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