Realms Of The Correctional System
The correctional system for women in America leaves much to be desired. There is many realms of the prison system that need to be evaluated and remedied in order to better service those who require reprimanding in society, especially considering a situation as delicate as being pregnant and incarcerated.
Women in prisons are often neglected and looked over for their basic health and mental needs in favor of the more prominent issue of incarcerated men. Policies and new legislation should be implemented to mitigate the dilemma of women’s health and the way pregnancy is handled in the correctional system.
Approximately 33% of all female prisoners in the world are held in the United States.
Latino women are incarcerated at twice the rate …show more content…
Finateri describes pregnancy in her article as what people refer to as “the normal illness” (Finateri). People do not view pregnancy as a serious medical condition due to the common occurrence of pregnant women, and even less so in the situation of incarceration. Finateri also goes further to illustrate the “multiplication of inferiority” pregnant women in prison experience from being seen as a criminal, as society subconsciously “denotes "criminal" bodies as ontologically inferior to "law" abiding bodies” (Finateri). As well as on top of that being pregnant. Reproductive health care in prisons is less than ideal. As stated earlier, prison systems are built to accommodate male inmates, and females are often a second thought when regulations are being made. After the Supreme Court ruling Estelle v. Gamble in 1976 declaring entitlement to basic health care for all people who are incarcerated, more efforts have been made to remedy this dilemma but inconsistently. Prison pregnancies are exceptionally high risk, prenatal care is often neglected by prison officials with little to no medical expertise, and prison meals are less than sufficient for adequate mother-child nourishment. In a jail in Arizona, prisoner Regan Clarine experienced unimaginable maltreatment when prison officials, instead of properly sealing her cesarean section wound which had become infected due to insufficient medical care, filled her wound with sugar from sugar packets used at fast food restaurants. Situations such as these are incomprehensible and should be met with legal repercussions for a violation of basic human
Women in prisons are often neglected and looked over for their basic health and mental needs in favor of the more prominent issue of incarcerated men. Policies and new legislation should be implemented to mitigate the dilemma of women’s health and the way pregnancy is handled in the correctional system.
Approximately 33% of all female prisoners in the world are held in the United States.
Latino women are incarcerated at twice the rate …show more content…
Finateri describes pregnancy in her article as what people refer to as “the normal illness” (Finateri). People do not view pregnancy as a serious medical condition due to the common occurrence of pregnant women, and even less so in the situation of incarceration. Finateri also goes further to illustrate the “multiplication of inferiority” pregnant women in prison experience from being seen as a criminal, as society subconsciously “denotes "criminal" bodies as ontologically inferior to "law" abiding bodies” (Finateri). As well as on top of that being pregnant. Reproductive health care in prisons is less than ideal. As stated earlier, prison systems are built to accommodate male inmates, and females are often a second thought when regulations are being made. After the Supreme Court ruling Estelle v. Gamble in 1976 declaring entitlement to basic health care for all people who are incarcerated, more efforts have been made to remedy this dilemma but inconsistently. Prison pregnancies are exceptionally high risk, prenatal care is often neglected by prison officials with little to no medical expertise, and prison meals are less than sufficient for adequate mother-child nourishment. In a jail in Arizona, prisoner Regan Clarine experienced unimaginable maltreatment when prison officials, instead of properly sealing her cesarean section wound which had become infected due to insufficient medical care, filled her wound with sugar from sugar packets used at fast food restaurants. Situations such as these are incomprehensible and should be met with legal repercussions for a violation of basic human