A new study identified a prison to premature birth pipeline. A recent study found that women who lived in communities that experienced high rates of incarceration were more likely to experience negative birth outcomes. Researchers compared all the births in New York City from 2010 to 2014 to the rates of incarcerated reported in the 2010 census.
The data comparison found that the worst occurrences of birth outcomes such as premature birth or low birth weight, were highly associated with neighborhoods with the highest experiences of incarceration. Dr. Holaday, the lead researcher, also found that the connection remained strong in consideration of influences from neighborhood poverty rates and criminal activity.
The prison to premature pipeline unfortunately is most evident in the Black community because they are most likely to live in highly incarcerated neighborhoods. The finding is a reflection of the impact of mass incarceration on the Black community over all. “Living in a neighborhood with high rates of incarceration means more of your loved ones and neighbors have an incarceration history,” Holaday says. “People with a history of incarceration have a harder time getting jobs and housing as a result of legal discrimination. Further, people coming home from jail and prison have often experienced significant trauma while inside, so overall people in the neighborhood are more stressed and have fewer financial and social resources available.”
Next steps, what can I do?
Mass incarceration extends beyond a social justice issue into public health. It is time to change the conversation to advocate for financial investment in high-incarceration neighborhoods to reduce barriers to crucial health care for women in those communities. Mass incarceration is detrimental to communities overall. Furthermore, policies that lead incarceration reform would decrease the harms of the negative downstream effects of incarceration to end the prison to premature birth pipeline.