Invisible women: correctional facilities for women across Canada and proximity to maternity services

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to describe the process to create an inventory of the facilities in Canada designated to incarcerate women and girls, health service responsibility by facility, facility proximity to hospitals with maternity services and residential programmes for mothers and children to stay together. This paper creates the inventory to support health researchers, prison rights advocates and policymakers to identify, analyse and respond to sex and gender differences in health and access to health services in prisons. Design/methodology/approach In spring 2019, this study conducted an environmental scan to create an inventory of every facility in Canada designated for the incarceration of girls and women, including remand/pretrial custody, immigration detention, youth facilities and for provincial and federal sentences. Findings There are 72 facilities in the inventory. In most, women are co-located with men. Responsibility for health varies by jurisdiction. Few sites have mother-child programmes. Distance to maternity services varies from 1 to 132 km. Research limitations/implications This paper did not include police lock-up, courthouse cells or involuntary psychiatric units in the inventory. Information is unavailable regarding trans and non-binary persons, a priority for future work. Access to maternity hospital services is but one critical question regarding reproductive care. Maintenance of the database is challenging. Originality/value Incarcerated women are an invisible population. The inventory is the first of its kind and is a useful tool to support sex and gender and health research across jurisdictions.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Outcomes among Incarcerated Women in Canada: A Scoping Review

“…These findings of harm point to the importance not only of measuring these outcomes among formerly/incarcerated people, but of responding to what is already known, and diverting pregnant people/people who may become pregnant away from incarceration to promote health and wellbeing in pregnancy, birth and infancy. Particularly in the time of COVID-19, during which prisons have become a key site of Canadian outbreaks (Cousins, 2020), we must question the utility of trying to augment health services in a context that is simply inconducive to health (Paynter et al, 2020a).…”

The Intersection of Abortion and Criminalization: Abortion Access for People in Prisons

“…32 Prisons are largely located outside of major urban centers, introducing transportation challenges. 33 34 Frequent staffing shortages in prisons 35 prevent prisons from arranging escorts for patients to receive off-site care. 36 A further barrier is information.…”

“…Correctional facilities must be assessed for compliance with these minimum standards, starting with the 72 prisons and jails designated for women and girls across Canada. 33…”

The Correctional Services Canada Institutional Mother Child Program: A Look at the Numbers

“…This article is part of a series of research papers pertaining to the sexual, reproductive and maternal health of people experiencing incarceration in prisons for women in Canada (Paynter, Jefferies, et al, 2020; Paynter, Bagg, et al, 2020; Paynter et al, 2019 and Paynter et al, 2021). In our analysis, we use a feminist abolitionist framework (Critical Resistance-INCITE, 2003; Davis, 2003; Davis et al, 2022; Parkes, 2021; Paynter et al, 2022) critical of the suggestion that bringing children into prisons can resolve the problems of mother-child separation caused by the increasing incarceration of women.…”

“…There is one provincial facility with an MCP at the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge, BC. ACCW is a large facility with capacity for 315 women (Paynter, Bagg, et al, 2020). From 2004–2008, 12 women gave birth while incarcerated and kept their infants with them.…”