Custody maternity care could be improved, says Herts midwife
Research carried out by a Hertfordshire professor helped highlight lived experiences by women in custody settings
Last updated 3rd Feb 2025
Learning from women's lived maternity experiences within the custody system could help improve care, a Hertfordshire University researcher and midwife argued.
Dr Laura Abbott spent years researching how care is delivered from pregnancy to birth.
She emphasised the importance of highlighting the experiences of these women, many of whom face compounded challenges such as poverty, trauma, and domestic violence.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, she said: "They are particularly invisible within the prison system," noting that the postnatal period is an especially risky time for mental health.
"What I wanted to do is to really highlight with the research, the rawness of the experience of having the baby removed from them… It’s essential that we understand these experiences so that we can keep women safer."
Women make up only 4–5% of the prison population, with pregnant women and those separated from their babies representing an even smaller proportion.
And although the number of pregnant women in prison is relatively small, Dr Abbott believes their experiences are critical to understanding broader issues in healthcare.
"It can translate to other areas of healthcare as well, especially women who may have social services involvement in the community," she said.
"It helps to inform those of us that might be working with women having these experiences, particularly midwives, social workers, prison officers, and mental health professionals."
Dr Abbott said her research further explored the decision-making process surrounding the removal of babies from their mothers.
"One really key area, and it’s quite important at the moment, looking at the sentencing review that’s going on… Why are these women in prison in the first place?" she added.
She called for alternatives to incarceration, particularly for pregnant women and new mothers, and noted that this is a priority for campaigners such as Birth Companions.
What does the government say?
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "We are committed to reducing the number of women in prison by increasing support in the community and addressing the specific needs of women in the criminal justice system.
"This is why we have created a Women’s Justice Board to focus on tailored solutions for mothers, young women, and pregnant women to ensure they receive the support they need."
The Women's Justice Board (WJB) met for the first time on 21 January. It will focus initially on early intervention and community solutions, as well as addressing issues specific to young women, and mothers of young children and pregnant women in the criminal justice system.
The WJB will bring together senior external leaders to share their wealth of experience and provide a vision and direction on how to reform women’s justice to deliver our priorities. It will be supported by a new cross-government Partnership Delivery Group, to ensure a joined-up effort across Government.
The majority of pregnant women reaching their expected delivery date whilst in prison will give birth in an outside hospital, however this will not always be the case due to the unpredictability of labour.
In 2023/24 there were 53 births to women in custody, 98 per cent of these were in hospital.
NHS England now considers all pregnancies in prison as clinically high risk and we contributed to the development of their national specification on pregnancy in detained settings.
How can custody maternity care provisions be improved?
Across the county border, the University of Bedfordshire is already training its healthcare students through a series of real-life scenarios.
The newly-launched SIM Street, a simulation suite designed to create realistic environments to prepare students to the care professions, already features a make-believe police station with two holding cells.
Through a joint approach, students from various departments can take part in simulation sessions and understand how agencies respond to a series of situations.
Russ Murden, lecturer in Policing and retired Thames Valley Police officer, said: "We've trying to encourage that partnership mindset.
In a few weeks time, we're having some training midwives coming in and we're going to be having a discussion with them about pregnant women in the custody system.
"We haven't done that before, so that's going to be a learning exercise for us as well, but without these sorts of environments, that learning wouldn't be quite as realistic."
Jonathan South, course lead in Professional Policing, added: "The curriculum we have the curriculum from the College of Policing, so that's already been considered to a certain extent.
"And what we've also alluded to is this sort of service migration going from, say, mental health to policing and the complexities around that.
"So I think the focus is on the curriculum, but it's actually empowering students with skills that they can then take into the workplace setting and know how to problem solve."
A powerful play bringing lived experiences to the stage
A powerful new play, Scenes from Lost Mothers, is set to raise awareness of the struggles faced by pregnant women in prison, with its debut taking place at the University of Hertfordshire.
The play is based on the Lost Mothers Project, the research conducted by Dr Laura Abbott.
The collaboration between universities and theatre companies like Clean Break is helping to bring these vital issues to light.
Dr Abbott said: "We’re really proud that Hertfordshire can bring our research to other universities.
"It’s about understanding a little bit about what this group of women may be going through and hearing their really authentic voices."
Scenes from Lost Mothers is set to challenge audiences and raise awareness about the often-overlooked experiences of incarcerated women, providing a rare insight into an issue that remains underrepresented.
Written by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, the play uses a series of vignettes to portray the raw experiences of incarcerated women who are separated from their new-borns.