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Case Studies

Pregnant women

Women who are pregnant at the time of their sentencing are sent to either Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla or to the California Institution for Women in Corona. Due to many factors including the age of the woman and lack of quality prenatal care, many of the pregnancies are considered “high risk”. The women are transported to prison on a bus, a trip that can take five hours or more. At prison, the women are housed in general population. While they do not receive a “special diet” due to the pregnancy, they usually do receive an extra snack to supplement their diet. They are assigned to an OB/GYN doctor at the prison. They are also required to meet with a social worker from the county whose job it is to collect information about family who are interested in taking custody of the baby when it is born. If the woman has no family member who is able or willing to take on the responsibility of caring for the baby, the woman has the option to list a friend who has a foster care license. However, the woman’s wishes as to who will care for her baby are not always honored.

DH was in her early forties and expecting her first child. She discovered she was pregnant about one month after arriving at prison. She contacted the father of the baby and arranged that he would travel to the hospital after she delivered and pick up their child. About two months before she delivered the baby, DH found out that the father had relapsed and was no longer clean and sober. She immediately contacted a chaplain she knew and arranged for a church member to care for the child. Unfortunately that person did not possess a foster care license and social services would not consider placing the baby with her. Meanwhile, DH found that she was eligible for CPMP (see case study of VW) and contacted LSPC for more information.

Even though county social services took custody of DH’s baby at birth and transferred the baby to another county, DH was luckier than most. She was very proactive during the entire pregnancy and continued to contact social services on an almost daily basis so that they would know that she was not going to lose her parental rights to this baby. She also was fortunate that the social worker on her case did not think that all imprisoned mothers should automatically lose their rights. DH was finally placed in the community-based program and was reunited with her baby.