LSPC Pregnant Prisoner Campaign Takes Off

"On 9/7/04, Antoinette went for a prenatal check up at VSPW and was sent to the hospital because she was beginning to dilate. She was shackled by her ankle to the gurney on the way to the hospital, not shackled while being checked in the ER, then shackled for the next 3 weeks while waiting to go into labor. ... [S]he was shackled to the bed and had to ask to go to the bathroom or to turn over. She was minimum security this whole time, already endorsed to the mother-infant program."

from Karen Shain's testimony to California's Senate Public Safety Committee, June 2005

LSPC has engaged in a partnership with five students from San Francisco State's School of Public Health who have embarked on a three-semester project to investigate the health needs of incarcerated pregnant women. We are currently working on four fronts:

• California State Legislature: We are working closely with State Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, sponsor of AB 478. This important bill provides for minimum standards of care for pregnant incarcerated women: prenatal medical care as needed, including vitamins and special diets; dental care, including at least one cleaning during the course of the pregnancy; and an end to shackling of women during transport and delivery, unless there is a pressing security need.
• Dental care for pregnant prisoners: This spring LSPC began a partnership with five students from San Francisco State University's Masters in Public Health (MPH) program. The group will focus on dental health for pregnant women incarcerated at VSPW. They have already spent one semester with us, and will continue through Spring 2006.
  Dental care was chosen as the focus of this project because oral health can have a drastic impact on the health of both infants and mothers. Infections in the mouth can trigger a hormonal imbalance that causes pre-term deliveries, resulting in low birth weight, pre-eclampsia, and an overall higher chance for infant mortality.
  The goal of the program is to improve dental care for pregnant women in California prisons and protect the health of their babies.
• Alternatives to incarceration: In the mid-1980s, the California legislature instituted the California Prisoner-Mother Program (CPMP). The CPMP is designed to be an alternative to incarceration for pregnant women and those with children under six years old who fit a set of criteria. Currently, the program has three facilities and houses up to 70 women and their children. This year, we began looking at these facilities in order to understand how they function and what the conditions of confinement are for these women and their young children. We plan to offer suggestions for improvement and possibly expansion to the legislature during the next session.
• Individual advocacy: We are meeting individually with pregnant women at Valley State as well as at the CPMPs to ensure that they get proper medical and dental care and that they have workable plans for the future of their babies.

Our work in support of pregnant and post-partum incarcerated women can be heartbreaking at times, but we are continually impressed by the strength and determination of the women we work with.