Perinatal Health Care Services for Imprisoned Pregnant Women: An updated Systematic Review

The number of women who are incarcerated in the United States has increased over the past few decades. As a result, it is increasingly important to gain an understanding of the potential risk involved when these women are also found to be pregnant. This vulnerable subpopulation has limited decision-making abilities and does not have the same type of access to perinatal resources as compared with the average woman. An initial review has shown that research which evaluates the effectiveness of the health care protocols of correctional facilities is sparse. This systematic review will be an update to an existing study and reviews research between the publishing dates of April 2014 and August 2018. Readers are expected to gain a better understanding of the outcomes associated with perinatal interventions at the level of the correctional facility. Four papers were included in the final assessment and were analyzed in depth. The reporting of these results ranged from positive to disappointing and highlights the need for more comprehensive knowledge moving forward