Why It Matters
How the criminal justice system handles pregnant and postpartum women behind bars is drawing fresh attention from state legislatures across the country. The push for new standards affects thousands of incarcerated women and their newborns, and advocates say a lack of consistent policy has left a significant gap in care and accountability across correctional systems.
What Happened
Legislators in at least five states — Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia — have considered bills this year that would change how pregnant and postpartum women are treated in jails and prisons. The proposals range from restricting physical restraints during labor and delivery, to expanding eligibility for home confinement or electronic monitoring programs, to mandating improved data collection.
Utah and Virginia each enacted new laws in the spring. Utah’s measure restricts the use of shackles on pregnant and postpartum women and requires correctional facilities to track the number of pregnant inmates, as well as incarcerated mothers of children under 18. Virginia passed two separate measures: one requiring correctional facilities to establish lactation policies for pregnant and postpartum inmates by December 2028, and another allowing courts to weigh home or electronic incarceration as an alternative for pregnant or postpartum women, subject to exceptions.
Kentucky’s legislature adjourned for the year without moving a comparable bill forward. Legislation in Ohio and South Carolina remained active as of publication.
By the Numbers
- 5 states considered legislation this year addressing pregnant women in custody
- 2 states — Utah and Virginia — signed new laws into effect
- 9+ states currently operate prison nursery programs
- 460+ active state policies related to pregnant people in custody are now tracked in a new national database
- The most recent federal data on pregnant incarcerated women reflects 2023 prison population figures, released last year
Zoom Out
The wave of state-level action reflects growing scrutiny of conditions in correctional facilities, as well as broader interest in keeping mothers and newborns together through nursery and community-based programs. The variation in policy from state to state — and even between facilities within the same state — has been a persistent challenge for policymakers and researchers alike.
To address that gap, the Justice-Involved Women and Children Collaborative at the University of Minnesota launched what it describes as the first comprehensive national database of its kind this spring. The interactive tool catalogs more than 460 active policies across the country, covering areas such as restraint use, access to abortion services, and access to basic hygiene products.
In Wisconsin, the state Department of Corrections acknowledged in early April that it is still working to develop a program for incarcerated mothers and newborns, but cited funding constraints and limited facility capacity as obstacles to moving forward.
Federal data on the subject remains limited, with the most recent national statistics reflecting prison populations from 2023. Policies also differ not just between states but among facilities operating within the same state, making uniform standards difficult to establish or measure.
For Idaho, where correctional policy and parental rights questions have both received attention from the legislature in recent sessions, the national trend signals that lawmakers in the Mountain West may face similar questions in future sessions as advocacy groups push for expanded protections.
What’s Next
Ohio’s legislative session runs through the end of 2026, meaning that state’s bill remains alive for the foreseeable future. South Carolina’s session was set to continue through mid-May, leaving its measure in play in the near term. Additional states may take up similar proposals in 2027 sessions as the new national policy database gives lawmakers and advocates a clearer picture of where gaps exist. Interest in prison nursery programs also appears to be growing, with several states actively exploring or developing similar initiatives.
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