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MEDICAL YEAR
IN REVIEW

reduce the risk by about 30%. At-risk pregnant women can also be of-
fered antenatal corticosteroids that have been shown to decrease respi-
ratory distress syndrome by 66%, intraventricular hemorrhage by 54%,
death by 69% and necrotizing enterocolitis by 46% when compared to
non-ANCS therapy.
9

Mental Health
According to The Sentencing Project, in 2019, the incarceration rate
for non-Hispanic black women was 84 per 100,000, twice that of non-
Hispanic white women, 48 per 100,000, while the rate for Hispanic
women was 64 per 100,000. 12,13 Reports show that for pregnant
women, the mental health effects of being incarcerated can magnify
existing problems or create new ones. Dumont, D. et al. found that
12
incarceration of either the mother or the father is associated with de-
pression, and other social determinants of health like unemployment
11
and homelessness. They also found a strong association between the
well-being of the prisoner’s family−his/her children, partners, siblings
and parents alike.
The experience of incarceration qualifies as an independent con-
11
tributor to health outcomes and health behaviors. Left unanalyzed,
the effects of parental incarceration could ultimately perpetuate sys-
temic disadvantages as populations likely affected are those of under-
served minorities. We, the authors, postulate that all those effects
reported can also negatively affect the mental health of the infant and
affect their childhood development. The impact on the behavioral
health of the mother or the infant is something worth exploring. Fur-
ther research would be beneficial to target specific populations that
have a strong association with parental incarceration and the perinatal
outcomes as it pertains to mental health. This would bring awareness
to components that if addressed, would potentially alleviate the
process of systemic incarceration.

Infant Mortality, Miscarriage, Abortion
The CDC defines infant mortality as death of an infant within their
first year of life. Due to the fact that jails and prisons only provide post-
partum care for three days after delivery, attempts at studying birth out-
comes in prison and jail settings have proven difficult.
1
Sufrin, C. et al. found that incarcerated women had a much lower rate
1
of infant survivability. The low survivability can be attributed to the
use of shackles before and during labor, placement of chains on pregnant
women's abdomens, placement of pregnant women in solitary confine-
ment, and variability of pre- and post-partum care, including lack of fol-
low up of the children born to incarcerated mothers.
1,14
Only 37.7% of prison facilities perform a pregnancy test on intake,
therefore measuring miscarriages and abortions is difficult due to the
fact that women may not know they are pregnant and may have an early
miscarriage without the correctional facility being aware.
14
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