Women, Pregnancy, & Incarceration

Video Resources

Mass Incarceration and Women

Pregnancy and Incarceration

  • Convening on Pregnancy in Correctional Settings: Advocacy and Research on Reproductive Wellness of Incarcerated People. On December 10, 2017, from 11 am - 5 pm, 72 people from across the country joined together to discuss how incarceration impacts pregnant people. (8 videos of varying lengths)

  • Intervening with Pregnant Women Incarcerated at Jail: Dr. Danielle H. Dallaire, Associate Professor, The College of William & Mary, Psychology Department, discusses interventions with pregnant women at jail to improve birth outcomes, at the 10/20/14 Interdisciplinary Institute on the Reproductive Health of Incarcerated Women. (2014, 46 minutes)

  • Incarcerated women and reproductive healthcare | Caroyln Sufrin is an obstetrician-gynecologist and a medical anthropologist. Her research focuses on the complex intersection of health rights and the politics of reproduction as they play out in institutions of incarceration.| TEDx (2012, 11 minutes)

  • "Research Perspectives on Parental Incarceration": Dr. Rebecca Shlafer discusses the prevalence of parental incarceration and its affects on children and families. (2014, 24 minutes)

  • Mothers of Bedford Documentary Film (clip). Mothers of Bedford follows five women incarcerated at New York's only maximum security prison, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. (2010, 3½ minutes)

  • Healing Neen The transcendent story of Tonier “Neen” Cain’s emergence from drug addiction, multiple incarcerations and two decades of homelessness to become a tireless advocate and educator on the devastating impact of childhood abuse . . and the need to rethink how we treat the shattered adults severely traumatized children become. (2014, 54 minutes)

  • Blaming Mothers: American Law and the Risks to Children’s Health | Linda Fentiman, Professor at the Elisabeth Haub Law School at Pace University. Today American mothers are criminalized more than ever from conception and pregnancy, to birth and beyond. How did it get this way and where is this dangerous trend heading? (2017, 25 minutes)

  • Prison makes changes for mothers "The Logan Correctional Center has made changes to make sure expectant and new mothers get the chance to bond with their babies." See also Logan Correctional Center creates pregnancy wing for expecting mothers. (2019 TV news, 2 minutes each)

  • Breastfeeding and incarceration: This panel discussion focuses on breastfeeding advocacy, the rights of incarcerated moms and their children, and prison abolition. (2014, 1½ hours)

  • Michigan Breastfeeding Network: Breastfeeding and Incarceration Video A Breastfeeding Roadblock Series Toolkit (2018, 2½ minutes)

  • Tutwiler, a Revealing Portrait of Pregnancy and Motherhood Behind Bars by FRONTLINE (PBS) and The Marshall Project. (34 minutes) Tutwiler is 16-minute excerpt (2019)

  • Shackling, and Incarcerated Moms in Labor Midwife Dr. Nicole Warren and Obstetrics and Gynecology professor Dr. Carolyn Sufrin discuss the shackling of pregnant incarcerated women during labor. (2019, 15 minutes)

  • Prison and Community Supports for Optimum Outcomes Dr. Mary Byrne discusses prison and community supports for optimum outcomes during mother/baby co-residence and re-entry. Interdisciplinary Institute on the Reproductive Health of Incarcerated Women in Minnesota. (2014, 56 minutes)

  • Experiences from the Field Guy Bosch, Associate Warden of Operations, Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee, moderates a panel with Holly Campo, Diane Haugen, and Erika Jensen. Interdisciplinary Institute on the Reproductive Health of Incarcerated Women in Minnesota (2014, 56 minutes)

Audio Resources

Women in Prison

  • “The Number of Women in Prison is Rising. Why?” Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, an assistant professor in Temple University's criminal justice department, and Valena Beety, an associate professor of law at West Virginia University, joined MPR News host Kerri Miller to discuss the factors behind the numbers. (48 minutes, MPR News, 2017)

  • National Public Radio, Special Series: Discipline and Women in Prison (Oct 14-17, 2018):
    1) Investigation: In U.S. Prisons, Women Punished More Often than Men In Prison, Discipline Comes Down Hardest on Women; 2) In Prison, Discipline Comes Down Hardest on Women; 3) Iowa is Trying to Address the Disparity in How Men and Women are Disciplined in Prison; 4) In Iowa, A Commitment to Make Prison Work Better for Women.     5) Federal Report Says Women In Prison Receive Harsher Punishments Than Men (October 2018 and February 2020: 4 to 8 minutes each)

  • Helping Women Exit Incarceration Successfully. Explores how Crossroads For Women helps women successfully return to the community after incarceration as part of a project of the Solutions Journalism Network. (2018, 49 minutes)

  • Episode 30: Getting Wrecked with Dr. Kim Sue: Interview with Dr. Kimberly Sue, the medical director of the Harm Reduction Coalition, and a leader in addiction medicine about women’s self-determination, the brutality of incarceration, and they imagine a world where women are treated humanely, not criminalized. (2019, 57 minutes)

  • Justice in America, Episode 23: Criminalizing Mothers One of the most devastating collateral consequences for someone involved in the criminal justice system is the potential destruction of their family – most commonly parents losing custody of kids and children being forced into foster care. (2020, 70 minutes)

  • The Surprising Connection Between Brain Injuries and Crime; Podcast of a TED talk by Kim Gorgens; 11½ minutes

Pregnancy and Incarceration

  • Pregnant Behind Bars: What We Do And Don't Know About Pregnancy And Incarceration (NPR news, 2019, 4 minutes)

  • After 6 Prison Terms, A Former Inmate Helps Other Women Rebuild Their Lives | Fresh Air, NPR Interview with Susan Burton, who traces her journey from prison to recovery — and her efforts to help others — in the memoir Becoming Ms. Burton. (2017, 36 minutes)

  • Life of the Law Shorts #23 - Of Prison and Pregnancy | The United States incarcerates six times as many women as it did thirty years ago. Many of these women are already mothers, and four percent of incarcerated women enter prison pregnant. What happens to the babies born in the correctional system? What happens to the children left behind, as their mothers serve out their sentences? (2013, 4½ minutes)

  • Podcast: Terrible, Thanks for Asking Episode #39: Natalie The punishment is supposed to fit the crime. But sometimes, when the sentence is served, the punishment is far from over. (2018, 43 minutes)

  • Pregnant, Locked Up, And Alone NPR "Solitary confinement is in no way, shape, or form something that a pregnant person should be placed in…However it's labelled, it's dangerous”, said Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, a gynecology and obstetrics professor at Johns Hopkins. (2019, 7 minutes)

  • Small Change in Illinois Prisons A Big Deal for Some New Moms Behind Bars. NPR Breastfeeding in the visiting room: Illinois Department of Corrections said it would change its policy. A new directive for Logan Correctional now says that visitors and prisoners will have the ability to breastfeed. (2019, ~ 3 minutes)

Reproductive Justice

In gratitude to Beth Isaacs and Illinois Birth Justice for the original creation of this list.