A report two years in the making claims that women’s health care services are sorely lacking at county prisons across Pennsylvania, reflecting a prison system designed with men in mind. 

The American Civil Liberties Union analysis finds that of the more than fifty county prisons housing female inmates, many lack policies to provide adequate prenatal care, sexually transmitted disease testing, and abortion services.

Carol Petraitis, an ACLU project director who authored the report, cited stories from women who weren’t aware they had the right to an elective abortion, even in prison.  She points to the recent premature birth of twins to a Luzerne County jail inmate addicted to drugs as the latest example of a lack of comprehensive reproductive health care policy.  Petraitis said she heard from women and advocates who said even pregnant inmates are fed on a standard schedule, sometimes going more than 12 hours without a meal. 

“For anyone who’s been pregnant, that is really stressful, difficult,” said Petraitis.  “Besides the fact that you’re hungry, it puts pressure on you and stress on the fetus.”

A county prison warden said providing comprehensives reproductive health care to incarcerated women is difficult when the inmate population is so transient.  Most county prison inmates serve sentences of less than two years.

“A lot of times, by the time you get appointments and stuff made, [inmates] are already gone, because most people in the counties are doing less than 23 months,” said Steve Johnson, warden of Northumberland County Prison. 

Moreover, he said, there are few statewide standards regarding county prison health care.  That point, said Petraitis, was borne out in her research.

“Each county is devising its own policies,” she said.  “It’s also that the people who are on the prison boards are certainly not medical people.  It’s the county commissioners, and the sheriffs, and the warden, and maybe the [District Attorney].”

At the Northumberland County Prison, for example, pregnant inmates receive regular care.

“Once they’re actually identified, and the actual pregnancy test is positive, then at that point, they are seen regularly by the nursing staff and the medical staffing in-house,” said Johnson.

But Johnson said there’s no policy on regular testing for STDs. 

Petraitis said the varied policies reflect a prison system unprepared to deal with the growing number of women inmates it is housing.

“Jails and prisons in this country were designed to house men, and women are an add-on to that system,” said Petraitis.  “Making sure that the jails are responsive to their needs is something that’s a newer idea.”

The ACLU report was compiled with information that came from right-to-know requests and interviews with medical experts.