End the imprisonment of pregnant women.- Level Up

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced an Independent Sentencing Review, which is an opportunity for us to make a unified call, once and for all, to end the imprisonment of pregnant women and new mothers.

The more people who submit to the review, the stronger our case for ending the imprisonment of pregnant women and mothers.

This is a critical opportunity to make a unified call to end the imprisonment of pregnant women and mothers once and for all. The more people who speak out about this, the more confident the government will be in introducing new measures.

The best way to add your voice is to use Level Up’s automatic consultation form, which directly addresses Question 7, the question most relevant to pregnant women, mothers and children.

The deadline is 9 January 2025.

We encourage you to add any additional information including professional or lived experience. When you click ‘submit’, your response will be sent directly to the MoJ’s consultation inbox.

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Question 7. What, if any, changes are needed in sentencing to meet the individual needs of different victims and offenders and to drive better outcomes?

I am calling on the Sentencing Review committee to implement reforms to sentencing that will see an end to the use of prison for pregnant women and mothers.

Since the high-profile deaths of two babies in the women’s prison estate in recent years the Prison Ombudsman, NHS and Ministry of Justice have categorised all pregnancies in prison as “high risk” and The Royal College of Midwives have maintained that “prison is no place for pregnant women”.

The unique needs of pregnant women, mothers and their children, will never be met inside prison. Timely access to routine midwifery care and emergency healthcare, nutritious food and support from family, friends and community are vital to a mother’s health and a child’s development.  The longer-term harm that maternal imprisonment and the risk of separation causes to the child will long outlast the length of a mother’s custodial sentence.

Eleven countries have already recognised that prison will never be a safe place to be pregnant. They prioritise community alternatives over imprisonment of pregnant women. The UK needs to catch up.

I support the following recommendations made by Level Up.

Recommendations based on evidence:

1. Sentencing must be tailored to address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of all pregnant women and mothers of young children, which will never be met in prison;

2. A new sentencing framework must seek to avoid any part of pregnancy or the ‘first 1,001 days’ (including pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life) from being spent in prison or separated from their mother;

3. A new sentencing framework must acknowledge the rehabilitative potential of pregnancy and motherhood, as reflected in evidence and case law;

4. A new, non-custodial sentencing framework must avoid tagging pregnant women and mothers of dependent children unless strictly necessary to meet the seriousness of offence;

5. New probation guidance to restrict the use of recall for pregnant women and mothers.

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