Pregnancy Behind Bars: Exploring the Impact of Incarceration on Prenatal and Postnatal Care for Female Inmates

Incarcerated women have a constitutionally protected right to obtain appropriate medical care. Past research has found that “38 states had inadequate or no prenatal care in their prisons” (NWsLC, 2010). A report from The US Department of Justice states that “46% of pregnant imprisoned women reported they received no pregnancy care” (Maruschak, 2008). There is a gap in the literature of analyzing primary accounts of pregnant inmates. The current study is investigating the interaction of incarceration and the available care and quality of care given to female inmates in American correctional institutions. This study is comprised of a qualitative video analysis using a convenience sample. We selected 10 videos of incarcerated women and 10 of non incarcerated women speaking about their pregnancy experience in America. Inclusion criteria includes the videos being made within the past five years, being at least ten minutes long, and showing their face. The software system “ATLAS.ti” will be used to analyze the transcripts and visual notes of the video testimonies. The analysis will focus on the spoken experiences and the visual social cues that are present. Considering these variables, we will be able to account for the similarity and differences of provided care to inmates. The visual cues will provide information about how the subject feels recounting their experience, which can give another element to the analysis as some mental health conditions, such as PTSD, has visual cues. As a control, video testimonies from non-incarcerated women sharing their pregnancy experience will also be analyzed. We hypothesize that prenatal and postnatal care being given to inmates will vary greatly since there is very little legislation protecting pregnant inmates’ access to honorable prenatal and postnatal care. We also hypothesize that women that were incarcerated while pregnant will show more visual signals of mental distress

Exile Vol. LVII

Spence, Caroline:To Lose a Brother 7Frances in Three Parts 8-11 Current, Abby: February\u27s Belly 12Selkie Woman 13-14 Callahan, Meghan: Whirl 15Halloween 25-26cool 27-29Faith 39-40Bookish (cover) Eden, Tristan: Runaway 16Sharkey\u27s Philadelphia 17 Heestand, Ashley: Tragedy, 1979 18-24 Persia, Danny: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 30-33Hymn to Satan 34-37 DiMartini, Amanda: untitled 38 Bullock, Karen: Gypsies 41-42 Swensson, Ellie: Phenomenology 43-44 Snow 45-47 Moran, Megan: untitled 48 untitled 58 Whites, Shawn: The Woman Across the Alley 49-57 Roozeboom, Nikki: Stain 59Distant 60-61 Ferguson, Brittani: That Dusty Italian Dugout 62-63 Gateway 64 Burdoff, Holly: Transitions 6

Exile Vol. LVIII

Autumn Stiles: Biblical Brooklyn 5 Daniel Carlson: A Night Indoors 6 Moriah Ellenborgen: Cradle Drop 8 Nicco Pandolfi: Cardinality 10 Abby Current: Babies in the Snow 11 Maggie Reagan: Chimaera 13 Natalie Olivo: Treading Water 14 Julianne Hyer: Swatch Watch 21 Mimi Mendes de Leon: For Bosnia 23 A. Tangredi: How to Keep from Freezing 24 Autumn Stiles: Bodies and Bread 25 Christie Maillet: The Depth of a Song 26 Sam Heyman: First Kiss 27 Shawn Whites: Five Hundred Miles to Freedom 28 Ammon Hollister: Temptation 31 Caroline Clutterbuck: The Conspiracy in Your Smile 32 Nicco Pandolfi: Sore Subject 33 Meghan Callahan: Why Claire Left 34 Aaron Bennett: Ode to Arden 36 Daniel Carlson: Duty 37 Lindsey Clark: Snapshot 38 Steph Maniaci: Ode to an M&M 39 Abby Current: The Animal Bride 41 Julianne Hyer: Trees Pantoum 42 Ammon Hollister: Life Support 43 Maggie Reagan: Necropolis 44