Women in prison seven times more likely to suffer stillbirth

Women in prison have a seven-times higher probability of suffering a stillbirth than those in the general population – an increase from a five-times higher probability since the data was last collected two years ago – the Observer can reveal.

Figures obtained through freedom of information requests sent to 11 NHS trusts serving women’s prisons in England also showed that for the years 2020-22, 25% of babies born to women in prison were admitted to a neonatal unit afterwards – almost double the national figure of 14%. Stillbirths were at a rate of 27.1 for every 1,000 births compared with 4 per 1,000 for the wider population.

On average, there were 29 pregnant women in prison during 2021 and 2022 and 50 births to women in custody over the same period, according to Ministry of Justice figures. Of these, 47 took place in a hospital and three occurred either in transit to hospital or within a prison.

Birte Harlev-Lam, executive director of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), said the “shocking” statistics should jolt the Prison Service and government into action. “It is a national scandal that women are still giving birth in prison, and it’s a practice that needs to stop,” she said.

There has been growing concern about the incarceration of pregnant women after the deaths of two babies in custody in recent years.

In 2019, a vulnerable 18-year-old gave birth alone in a prison cell more than 12 hours after her calls for a nurse were ignored at Europe’s largest women’s prison in Ashford, Surrey. A damning report by the prison watchdog concluded that maternity services at HMP Bronzefield were “outdated and inadequate”.

Then, in 2020, a woman gave birth to a stillborn baby in a prison toilet at HMP Styal in Cheshire without medical assistance or pain relief. A prison nurse failed to respond to emergency calls after Louise Powell, who was not aware she was pregnant, developed agonising stomach cramps.,

The Sentencing Council is due to review whether there is a need for new guidance on sentencing pregnant women.