500 signatures reached
To: Robert Buckland QC MP: Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Release all pregnant people from prison
This is a campaign run by the Prisoner Solidarity Network and bluebaglife. We are ex-prisoners and prisoner families, activists, organisers, academics, charity workers and community members who were outraged and broken-hearted to hear the news that two babies have needlessly died in prison over the last year. We call on the Ministry of Justice to release all pregnant people immediately and to put measures in place on the courts to end the imprisonment of those who are pregnant.
Why is this important?
One baby died at HMP Bronzefield in September 2019 and another at HMP Styal in June 2020. In both cases the mother gave birth in a prison cell rather than at hospital. The prisons and the Ministry of Justice have refused to release information publicly about why the mothers were not taken to hospital, despite being in labour. These deaths, and the resulting trauma for the families of the babies, could have been prevented with appropriate support and access to health care.
This issue is now even more urgent due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pregnant women have been included on the government’s list of those clinically vulnerable to COVID-19. In addition to this, prisons have responded to the pandemic by keeping prisoners locked in cells for 22 - 24 hours per day, increasing the risk of pregnant people going into labour in cells or being unable to access maternity care. The government acknowledged this with a promise in March 2020 to release pregnant women and women with babies in prison Mother and Baby Units, in order to allow them to safely self-isolate in the community. Despite this promise, according to the last figures stated by the government on 18th June, only six pregnant people and 16 new mothers have been released.
We call on the Ministry of Justice to act immediately on this promise and release all pregnant people and mothers with babies in Mother and Baby Units, in order to prevent further harm and deaths.
