Born in Chains- US has the world's largest female prison population – but no plan for pregnancies

[midnight]

Thanks to the war on drugs, and a general 30-year-long incarceration binge, the number of women in prison has increased by over 400%, to the point where America can now make the not-so-proud boast of having the largest female prison population in the world. The vast majority of these women are not only non-violent first-time offenders, they are frequently the victims of violence themselves, and their crimes are often crimes of addiction, either stealing to buy the substance of that addiction, or simply being caught in possession of it. Needless to mention, women of color are far more likely to end up in prison than their white counterparts.

Yet, however deserving of jail time convicted women may or may not be, their unborn children have done nothing to earn a prison sentence. And they, at the very least, deserve the chance to good-quality pre- and post-natal care, as well as a dignified birth.

For most babies born in prison, these inalienable rights are little more than a pipe dream. In 2010, the National Women's Law Center and the Rebecca Project issued a report called Mothers behind Bars, a state-by-state report card on the treatment of incarcerated pregnant women and their babies. The report graded each state on three areas: pre-natal care, shackling policies and alternatives to incarceration. Even by the low standard of care for inmates one comes to expect from the US prison system, the conclusions are shocking.

Nearly half the states received an overall failing grade, and over two thirds received a failing grade for their lack of pre-natal care. Forty-nine out of 50 states fail to even report all incarcerated women's pregnancies and their outcomes; 43 states do not require medical examinations as a component of pre-natal care; and 36 states still engage in the barbaric practice of shackling pregnant women, often with ankle, wrist and belly chains, before, after and sometimes even during labor.http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/08/26-1