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Thousands of pregnant individuals pass through our nation’s jails each year. They have unique medical, psychosocial, and custody needs that jails must equipped to address, whether jails see one or one hundred such individuals. In this interactive seminar, we will present two innovative initiatives that can help jails strengthen their operations in both safety and programming for pregnant and postpartum women. First, we will highlight the benefits of having a doula program—birth support professionals who can provide services in jail and the hospital during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum, including breastfeeding support. A sheriff and a doula who started such a program in jail will describe how to set up a doula program, what it looks like, and the benefits for pregnant women and custody staff alike. The second innovation we will discuss is implementing training for custody officers. As the first point of contact, they must be able to appropriately recognize when a pregnant woman might be in labor or is having another pregnancy emergency. Having basic skills to triage when a pregnant or postpartum woman is having an emergency and needs medical attention is crucial to ensuring the best outcomes for moms and babies, avoiding having a birth in your jail, and minimizing chances of litigation. This seminar will present simple tools you can take back to your jail to be able to empower your staff to recognize pregnancy emergencies. Finally, we will discuss the under-recognized needs of postpartum women in custody and why it is important to identify them at intake.

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