Pregnancy and childbirth in English prisons: institutional ignominy and the pains of imprisonment.

With a prison population of approximately 9000 women in England, it is estimated that approximately 600 pregnancies and 100 births occur annually. Despite an extensive literature on the sociology of reproduction, pregnancy and childbirth among women prisoners is under-researched. This article reports an ethnographic study in three English prisons undertaken in 2015-2016, including interviews with 22 prisoners, six women released from prison and 10 staff members.