Media Storm
S5E6 Pregnant in prison: the case to stop births behind bars
Published: 21 March 2025 at 05:00 Europe/London
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Episode notes
Content warning: baby loss
"When a court sentences a pregnant woman to prison, they sentence her to a high risk pregnancy"
There are hundreds of pregnant women in UK prisons - a third of them yet to actually be convicted of a crime. Babies born to women in prison are 7x more likely to be stillborn than the norm.
In recent years, two babies died when their incarcerated mothers went into labour and their calls for help were ignored. Last month, harrowing stories emerged of women at HMP Bronzefield being unlawfully handcuffed to male officers during childbirth.
Media Storm asks: will prison ever be a safe place to be pregnant? And if not, does the media care? And why, when debating this issue, did one LBC presenter get fixated on lamb chops?! (19:25)
Plus, Helena delves into far more detail than anybody asked for when talking about the EastEnders storyline which saw the iconic character Sonia Fowler pregnant in prison - an example of pop culture's influence on real-life issues.
Joining Media Storm this week is co-director of gender justice group Level Up, Janey Starling, and 'Anna' - co-founder of the Level Up campaign No Births Behind Bars, who was first sent to prison when 6 months pregnant.
The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)
The music is by @soundofsamfire
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