ITV News given unprecedented access to Mother and Baby Unit in one of UK's biggest Women’s prisons

ITV NEWS ^ | June 30 | Sarah Corker

[RandFan]

For new moms 'Kelly' and Jada, getting a place on the Mother and Baby Unit at HMP New Hall was life-changing.

Both women committed crimes which landed them with short custodial sentences. For both of them, it was their first offence.

They feared the disruption being locked up would cause their families, and especially the impact it would have on their babies, who weren’t even a year old.

Both Kelly (not her real name) and Jada were given a place on the Mother and Baby Unit, a special and rare wing in some women prisons, where female offenders can serve their sentences with their children.

Spaces are scarce; there are only seven units across the UK, and getting a place on then is hard, involving an application and multi-agency eligibility assessment.

They are also controversial.

Worldwide, eleven countries have laws against sending pregnant women to prison. In the UK, pregnant women in prison are seven times more likely to suffer a stillbirth. But for Kelly and Jada, the mother and baby unit provided a lifeline.

ITV News were the first journalists ever to enter a Mother and Baby Unit.

The unit at HMP New Hall, was peaceful - far quieter and softer than the other parts of the prison we visited.

The unit sits separated from the main estate, a smaller bungalow type building leading onto an outside playpark.

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TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Conspiracy
KEYWORDS: multiplenicks; randpaulsucks; trollfarm

[RandFan]

A 'Mother and Baby' Prison Unit? What?

I never knew these existed. How can they condemn the child? What happened to social services? This is outrageous......

[ClearCase_guy]

I really thought that this was new woke terminology for “Mother and Child” which should now be referred to as “Mother and Baby Unit”.