A woman comes to the unit in full labor. Out of control. Screaming. Drug addicted. A repeat offender. She delivers her baby in a chaotic environment of wails, expletives and panic. The baby is brought to the nursery to monitor for drug withdrawal.
“What a bitch. She needs to be sterilized. How can she continue to have so many babies? Lock her up and throw away the key.” Comments from “medical professionals” during their daily routines.
Mom’s with substance abuse issues are the most vulnerable patients we care for. We don’t know their back stories and we really don’t care. We are very good at the dirty looks, the impatience, and the judgment. I am guilty as charged. How ironic. Delivery a baby is often the only time these women enter into the health system. Instead of offering kindness, and empathy, and HOPE, we offer scorn.
Awhile back I wrote about pregnant convicts being shackled during their labor. The original newspaper article included comments from readers that were less than kind to these women. They were downright ignorant and misogynistic. It was eye opening.
What was even more eye opening was a comment left on my post regarding pregnant inmates. Please read the comment below left by a reader. Hopefully it will make you think twice about how you view and treat all women.
bamafanonly said
10 years ago I was 6 weeks pregnant and sentenced to 150 months (12 1/2 years) in Federal Prison on a Drug Conspiracy charge. I was told by the pretrial officer that even though this was my first offense, I would most likely be allowed 12 hours with my baby when he was born and would be shackled, due to the length of my sentence, during the birth. Thank God that I had a Case Mngr. that fought tooth and nail for me and I was entered into the MINT Program. (Mothers and Infants Together). As I researched this program and the Justice system, I realized that I was one of the first Female Inmates with a sentence over 10 years to be accepted into this program. As soon as I gave birth and got to spend 3 months with my son, take him home to be placed, self reported (again) to the Federal Facility, my sentence was reduced to 5 years thanks to a co-defendent. What if I had been catoragized as the ‘MONSTER’, ‘BAD PERSON’ etc… society is so convinced we are? I would not have had the results with my beautiful son that I had. He is much better today at 10, I truly believe, because he got that binding time with me.
Now, let me tell you what one piece of hope can do for a person who has ultimately lost all hope. In the 5 years that I did not see him, my ultimate goal was to better his life than the way it began. I earned 2 business degrees while incarcerated, 48 self help certificates and awards, self worth that I had never had, and went through pretrial, 5 years in prison, 3 years parole worked 3 jobs after my release and rode the City Transit system to all 3 jobs, never late, met all meeting requirements-never late and all throughout this process I never recieved a negative mark on my record. I vowed that it I got a second chance and a little hope I would never let him feel the pain I felt for the way I brought him into this world.
Today, 5 years after my release, I’m close to a six figure income and have full custody of a well adjusted son. He is 10 now.
All women and men in prison aren’t what society has envisioned. A conspiracy charge is the charge they don’t have to prove. In my case, I wasn’t innocent in that my lifestyle was not one of a good contributing member of society. I was messed up, addicted and was being swallowed up by a lifestyle that I truly didn’t know how to get away from. Going to prison was the 2nd chance I needed to get back on track.
So, please, before anyone puts all inmates who are pregnant, think about what hope and prayer could do for them!
This is REALITY.
RR
