Reproductive health

Females in prison are a particularly vulnerable group (Breuer et al. 2021). They experience more challenges to their health and wellbeing than males in prison – and than females in the general community.

Compared with females in the general community, females in prison are far more likely to have been pregnant, to have been pregnant at a young age, and to have had multiple pregnancies – all of which take a substantial physical toll (Jones et al. 2018; Olsson et al. 2014).

Females in prison are more likely to be single parents, and more likely to be socioeconomically disadvantaged than those in the community (Earle 2018; Jones et al. 2018).

The vast majority of women in the criminal justice system are mothers, and many also have non-biological children who depend on them (Jones et al. 2018) (see Socioeconomic factors for information on people in prison with dependent children).

The effects of separating mothers from their children, even for short periods of time, can be devastating for all individuals involved (Poehlmann 2005). Children of incarcerated mothers are more likely to be in out-of-home care (often permanently), and children in out-of-home care are more likely to have contact with the criminal justice system (Dowell et al. 2018; Dowell et al. 2019; Millar and Dandurand 2018; Paynter et al. 2019; Remond et al. 2023).

Previous page
Next page