Intended Cruelty
Doulas in
Women’s health care
Diana Sanchez spent hours in labor before giving birth to her son, alone in a prison cell without any medical aid or assistance. Tammy Jackson went through seven hours of agonizing labor and delivery in an isolation cell without aid. They are not alone in their experience.
Picture a woman shackled during the birth of her child, isolated from her family, knowing that she will be separated from her baby within a day or two and will be returned to her cell, alone. That is the reality of childbirth for so many expectant mothers in America’s carceral system.
She can be placed in solitary confinement. Her screams can go unheard and her pain ignored for hours and hours. It is easy to stigmatize imprisoned pregnant women as simply criminals, deserving of this type of pain and punishment. But this issue goes beyond the realms of crime and punishment, and is rather an issue about health care, education, poverty, and racial equity.
Too often, the plight of pregnant incarcerated women is left forgotten in the United States. Motherhood can change the course of a woman’s life, if she is given the right resources to do so.
The number of incarcerated women in the United States has increased by 7 times since 1980, but has the system evolved?
Currently, 4% of women in federal prison and 3% of women in state prison are pregnant at the time of incarceration. What is more concerning is that the carceral system is not adapted to meet the increase in the population of incarcerated women.
Women are likely to enter prison with a history of abuse, trauma, and mental health problems. In fact, about 70% of women in prison suffer from some type of mental illness. The pre-existing health issues which are often attributed to economic conditions, substance abuse, and limited access to healthcare prior to incarceration, are aggravated within the prison environment
Additionally, there is a lack of clear and mandatory standards providing for prenatal and pregnancy care for incarcerated women. Expectant mothers have unique needs that must be addressed by the carceral and health systems. Negligent correctional procedures can exacerbate pregnancy-related mental health disorders. Incarcerated expectant mothers are currently at higher risk of experiencing low birth weight, preterm birth, gestational diabetes and other health problems, in part due to nutritional deficits and limited access to prenatal care and information in prison.
However, the trauma of childbirth and separation for incarcerated women can be alleviated with the help of doulas. A doula provides emotional, informational and physical support before, during, and after labor and childbirth. For incarcerated women, doulas can provide that light at the end of the tunnel.
A doula held Brittany Seaver’s hand, rubbed her back, cajoled her, blotted her forehead with cold towels as she gave birth in a hospital bed being watched by two corrections officers. It was a doula who taught Brittany Seavers how to best bond with her newborn child in the time (48 hours) she had before she would be separated from her child. It was a doula who comforted Brittany in the aftermath of separation from her child.
Women who receive continuous support from doulas have shorter labors, and were less likely to request for epidurals, pain medication and report dissatisfaction with their childbirth experiences. As such, doula-supported births have potential cost-savings, particularly among low-income women and can even reduce expenses for correctional facilities even though doula services cost money.
The confluence of mass incarceration and maternal health also does not help with the human cause for social justice and equality.
Black women are incarcerated at twice the rate of white women. The overrepresentation of black women within the correctional system contributes to the health disparity that exists between African American women and white women. Maternal health outcomes in the carceral system are linked to the racial maternal health disparities present in the United States, with the infant mortality rate for the black community being twice the infant mortality rate for the white community.
The incarceration of mothers has profound consequences on future generations. Children who are separated from their mothers even at birth, are more likely to end up in the foster care system and lack contact with their parents. Given the racial disparities in incarceration rates, addressing these issues regarding pregnancy in prisons through the use of doulas is crucial to achieving racial justice and equity.
It is said that “although birth is only one day in the life of a woman, it has an imprint on her for the rest of her life.” We must make it so that childbirth is as safe and positive an experience as possible for women regardless of whether they are incarcerated or not.
