ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly reviews background information regarding women in prison, then focuses on mothers in prison, and then shifts specifically to women who are pregnant and give birth while serving their sentence. Pregnancy-related health care standards have been established by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, as well as the American Public Health Association. Research suggests that prison nursery programs, while certainly important in developing parenting skills, can also help mothers develop skills that will be needed in successful reentry, as well as to engage in other self-development activities. First pregnancy as the result of sexual assault while already in prison is virtually unacknowledged, but legal scholars note that women in prison experience "institutionalized sexual abuse" and the law offers them little protection or mechanism for redress. The chapter concludes with an exploration of how pregnancy and childbirth are portrayed in mass media, as seen in Orange is the New Black (OITNB).
