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Labor Support for Incarcerated Pregnant Women: The Doula Project

NCJ Number
211085
Journal
Prison Journal: An International Forum on Incarceration and Alternative Sanctions Volume: 85 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2005 Pages: 311-328
Author(s)
Carole Schroeder; Janice Bell
Date Published
September 2005
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article provides findings from a doula support project that provided collaborative labor and birth support services to pregnant women who delivered while incarcerated at an urban jail facility.
Abstract
The provision of labor and birth support services to women incarcerated in our Nation’s jails lags far behind the fast increase in women of childbearing age who are imprisoned in jails. The current article describes the doula project and offers findings from a 2-year evaluation of the multiagency, collaborative program that brought labor and birth support services to 18 pregnant women at an urban jail facility. Data included interviews with 14 of the pregnant women and satisfaction surveys from 40 physicians, nurses, doulas, and correctional officers present at the births. Interviews focused on demographics, satisfaction with the doula program, early childhood victimization experiences, substance abuse, experiences as a pregnant inmate, separation from their infant, and their plans for the future. Results of data analysis indicated overall high doula program satisfaction, low program costs, and high program feasibility. The interview data, however, reflected disturbing levels of hopelessness in which female inmates outlined lives filled with childhood abuse, violence, and neglect that had untoward consequences for the women’s lives that culminated in their arrest and subsequent loss of children. Policy recommendations are offered concerning pregnant inmates that focus on early intervention, harm reduction, and reunification. In general, this unique population of inmates and their infants need vastly more comprehensive programmatic support both while incarcerated and upon release. Tables, note, references