Should pregnant women be spared jail? – Sentencing Council reviews the impact of prison on unborn babies
The Sentencing Council is examining whether pregnancy should be a stronger reason not to send a female offender to jail.
It launched a consultation last month which will examine the potential impact of being pregnant and giving birth as a prisoner, and it’s due to publish its decision in November.
Current guidance only suggests that judges “may consider” pregnancy when sentencing.
Campaigners say there is no statutory duty to consider it, and judges often don’t – and that unborn babies are put at risk in prison and shouldn’t be punished for their mother’s crimes.
Others argue pregnancy shouldn’t be used as an excuse to dodge punishment.
Sky News has spoken to three women who’ve experienced pregnancy in jail and describe a frightening, isolating and humiliating experience.
One we will call ‘Olivia’ said being sent to jail pregnant was “traumatic beyond words, terrifying, lonely and deeply unsettling”.
She said: “There aren’t the midwives, there’s not the 24/7 support. If someone has a medical emergency, how many sets of keys does it take to unlock all the doors to get through? And that’s before you can even get into the prison to get the paramedics or the midwife to the woman.”
‘Laying in a bed of blood’
Another, ‘Susie’, said she had no one to turn to when she thought she had miscarried her baby in her cell.
‘Susie’ said she had no one to turn to
She said: “They didn’t realise that I was still laying in a bed of blood,” and added she had “a horrifying wait” all weekend to get her situation checked with a scan.
Susie says prison life is unsuitable for a pregnant woman: “I got a lot hungrier, and they told me that they wouldn’t provide me with more food, and I didn’t have a pregnancy mattress.
“I feel like as you gain more weight, your body’s pressing into the bed and you spend an awful lot of time in your room.”
A handcuffed birth
A third women ‘Anna’, who also wants to remain anonymous, describes her experience as “humiliating” and says she gave birth while handcuffed to a prison officer.
‘Nobody came’ says ‘Anna’
She says the officer “told me to be grateful that she was putting me on long cuffs and not short cuffs”. These are cuffs with a longer chain.
Anna says that only when she had a second pregnancy outside of prison, did she realise how substandard the care is for women behind bars.
She said while in prison “I had appointments that had been missed. I had a scan that was coming up. I ended up missing that a couple of times because they never had the staff to take me.
“Eventually I went and was taken through the front of the hospital in handcuffs. That’s very degrading and humiliating.”
She added: “When I went into labour it was early hours in the morning at 5.30am. I pressed my cell bell. An officer told me that somebody would be with me soon. But nobody came.
“I pressed it another three, four times. Nobody came. They only then unlocked me at the same time they unlocked the rest of the landing.”
Anna added: “I didn’t see the nurse till about 9.30 in the morning. I wasn’t sitting in an ambulance to go to the hospital until around 10.30am. I had been told that the ambulance was there, but it was waiting outside of the gates because it had to be security cleared to come into the prison.”
Ministry of Justice figures show that three births took place in prison or on transit to hospital in 2021-22.
The case of Aisha Cleary
In July this year, an inquest found “serious operational and systemic failings” contributed to the chances of survival of baby Aisha Cleary, born to an inmate in HMP Bronzefield in Surrey.
Her 18-year-old mother, Rianna Cleary, gave birth alone in her cell on the night of 26 September 2019. She called for help, but nobody came. Aisha was found dead in the cell the following morning.
Rianna Cleary gave birth alone at HMP Bronzefield
An ombudsman report into Aisha’s death published in September 2022, not only criticised the care of Rianna, but made a wider conclusion that “all pregnancies in prison should be treated as high risk by virtue of the fact that the woman is locked behind a door for a significant amount of time”.
Campaigners say it therefore follows that any prison sentence to a pregnant woman is also a sentence to a high-risk pregnancy – and a threat to their baby. But the women we spoke to say their pregnancy wasn’t taken into consideration during their sentencing.
Protesters have campaigned against pregnant women going to jail
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Prison ‘never a safe place’ to be pregnant
Speaking at a vigil which was held outside the Ministry of Justice to remember the anniversary of the birth and death of Aisha, Janey Starling, from campaign group Level Up, said: “It is so evident that prison will never be a safe place to be pregnant.
“Pregnant women in prison are seven times more likely to suffer a still birth, twice as likely to give birth to a premature child that needs special intensive care and ultimately the long-lasting trauma on a mother and a child is devastating.”
Janey Starling: ‘Prison will never be a safe place to be pregnant’
These arguments are supported by the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and will inform the Sentencing Council’s decision on whether pregnancy should be a greater mitigating factor in deciding whether someone goes to jail – set against the need to punish people who commit crimes.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Custody is always the last resort for women and independent judges already consider mitigating factors, like pregnancy, when making sentencing decisions.
“We have made significant improvements to the support available for pregnant women in custody in recent years. This includes employing specialist mother and baby liaison officers in every women’s prison, conducting additional welfare checks and stepping up screening and social services support so that pregnant prisoners get the care they need.”
The consultation is currently open for submissions, and they are due to publish their findings on 30 November this year.
Any new guidance for judges would come into practise next April.
UK
‘A catastrophic scandal’: Inside the tower block so dangerous residents face being kicked out at any moment
The moment we step into Willow Rise, the smell of damp is overpowering.
There are water stains across the carpet and rotten wood on the doors.
Around the corner, there’s a hole in the wall, barely patched up with a piece of polystyrene sheet.
We’re meeting a resident on the 13th floor of the building in Kirkby, Merseyside – but the lifts are broken and wires hang out of the service panel.
Like everyone living here, we will have to walk.
The disrepair in this block is everywhere you look.
Damp staining and ceiling damage around the block
It has now been deemed so unsafe by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service that they are days away from serving a rare prohibition notice on this tower and its neighbour, Beech Rise, meaning residents will have to leave with immediate effect.
In total, 160 households here face instant homelessness.
After climbing 13 flights of stairs, we meet Chris Penfold-Ivany.
‘A catastrophic scandal’
He has terminal cancer, and after chemotherapy and a liver transplant, that climb is now the only way he can get up to his flat.
Chris Penfold-Ivany warns ‘this is another Grenfell in the making’
He tells us it’s making him breathless. He can no longer get his prescriptions delivered, as the drivers won’t come up all the stairs.
“It’s a catastrophic scandal that we have been left like this,” he says.
He has lived in this flat for 15 years and has watched the block slowly begin to fall apart over the last decade.
He tells us that numerous complaints have achieved nothing. “I’m going to say it,” he says, “this is another Grenfell in the making.”
‘Nobody can live like this‘
A few floors down, Arunee Leerasiri opens the door to us, in floods of tears.
The stress of the last few weeks has left her anxious and overwhelmed. There are boxes everywhere, bare hooks on the walls where pictures hung.
She is packing up her life just three years after putting her life savings into buying this flat.
Arunee Leerasiri says she doesn’t even recognise her flat as her home anymore
Her elderly mother has come to visit, but she had to hire removal men already to take her mattress into storage as she couldn’t manage without the lifts.
Tonight, and until they are told they must leave, they will sleep on the floor.
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep,” she tells us, through tears. “Sometimes, if I’m honest, I can’t even think. This used to be my home, and now I look around and I don’t even recognise it.”
“Nobody can live like this,” she adds.
‘Danger, 415 volts’
Water damage around electrical equipment, including a ‘Danger high voltage’ labelled box
She shows us a video she filmed just a few weeks ago, of one of the electrical risers on the ground floor.
None of us can quite believe what we are seeing – water is pouring through the ceiling, directly on to fuse boxes and electrical wiring.
Arunee takes us down to show us the cupboard. The water has now stopped but there are damp stains all over the floor and around the electrical equipment.
The water pipes and electric boxes are just inches away from one another within the cupboard.
One of the boxes, marked ‘Danger, 415 volts’, is rusted through.
Next to it, there is a notice stuck to a resident’s door telling them a leak has been identified in their flat – and as a leaseholder, they will be responsible for paying to fix it.
“Tell me, how is this safe?” Arunee says. “Why is this building allowed to be open for the public, as a dwelling, with this kind of set-up?”
A hole in a wall patched up with polystyrene
Hidden owners and a plea to the government
Merseyside Fire and Rescue tell us they have been serving enforcement notices on the building managers for years, to no avail.
They have now been told there is no money for the millions of pounds worth of repairs that will be needed to bring the blocks up to a safe standard.
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They have mandated a ‘waking watch’, where teams physically patrol the buildings daily to check for fire risks, without which they will serve the prohibition notice and tell residents they must leave straight away.
Knowsley Council has stepped in to pay for this temporarily – at a cost of £3,000 per day.
Their deputy leader tells us, though, that the money will soon run out.
Willow Rise and Beech Rise Towers in Merseyside have both been condemned by the fire service
Where to go?
With a complex management structure and several owners, managers and agents over the years, the council says it doesn’t even know who is to blame for the disrepair – or who even has the legal responsibility for maintaining the buildings.
It says discussions are ongoing with central government about whether any extra help – or money – can be provided to try to fix the mess.
Right now though, all the residents can do is wait.
With no date to leave and no idea if anything can be done to keep the buildings open, they are spending every day fearing the call to tell them they have to go.
They can only hope there will be somewhere for them if they do.
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has reversed his decision to quit the party, saying “the mission is too important” and that he “cannot let people down”.
Instead, he said he will return in a new role, heading up an Elon Musk-inspired “UK DOGE” team.
In a statement, he said: “Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.”
He added: “I know the mission is too important and I cannot let people down.
“So, I will be continuing my work with Reform, my commitment redoubled.”
Mr Yusuf said he would be returning in a new role, seemingly focusing on cuts and efficiency within government.
He said he would “fight for taxpayers”.
Only two days prior, Mr Yusuf dramatically handed in his resignation.
He claimed he no longer thought getting a Reform government elected was a “good use of my time” – but has now seemingly changed his mind.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage welcomed the news of Mr Yusuf’s return.
He said: “I am delighted that Zia Yusuf will head up Reform UK’s DOGE department.”
Nigel Farage welcomed Zia Yusuf’s return. File pic: PA
Read more:
Why did Zia Yusuf resign as chairman of Reform UK?
Reform’s rise forces rethink for SNP
‘Farage could become PM’
Mr Yusuf’s initial decision to quit came after he publicly distanced himself from the party’s new MP, Sarah Pochin, when she asked Sir Keir Starmer about banning the burka at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Reform said a ban was not party policy – and the chairman called it a “dumb” thing to ask.
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What is DOGE?
DOGE is a meme-coin inspired creation of Musk’s, standing for the Department of Government Efficiency.
It is the latest right-wing US import into British politics.
Before his public fallout with Donald Trump, the tech billionaire said his focus was saving taxpayers’ money by locating wasteful spending within government and cutting it.
Read more: How Elon Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
However, opposition politicians questioned the impact of his efforts and how much he actually saved.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
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