Reaching out: caring for women prisoners in Western Australia

Incarcerated women are a vulnerable group with complex needs in pregnancy, birth and early parenting; and this is further complicated with a drug and/or alcohol addiction. Prior to the establishment of an antenatal outreach clinic in a Western Australian prison for women, pregnant inmates received fragmented antenatal care. Some of the women did not disclose drug and alcohol issues for fear of involvement of child protection services, and some refused to be transported for care to maternity hospitals for antenatal appointments. This is the first antenatal care clinic for pregnant women to be established within a prison population in Western Australia.