ABSTRACT
The first consequence to health and wellbeing is physical health. Research has revealed that women entering prison have much worse physical health than male prisoners and the general female population. In contrast to the existing literature, the majority of those interviewed in this research described themselves as physically well and active prior to custody. For many of the mothers interviewed, the problems with their physical health did not cease once they had served their sentence or remand period. Health provision in prison continues to be described as ‘under-resourced and the concept and practice poorly understood’. Security in prison is of primary concern, and therefore ‘effective healthcare comes second, but if good healthcare is not available to prisoners, they have no alternative’. Unfortunately many of the women spoke of a deterioration in their physical health as a result of their short period in prison, most of which continued to play out for a long time post-custody.
