”The day I was being induced, I thought, ‘I better grab that [booklet] just in case,’” Joanne tells us. “I highlighted a part of the policy that said ‘pregnant women shouldn’t be handcuffed [unless in exceptional circumstances, as per prison service policy]’. And the prison officers just looked at it, then each other, and said, “We don’t know what that book is, but we’re telling you, you’re wrong,” she claims.
Joanne alleges she was handcuffed for 34 continuous hours during the birth of her child, as well as during multiple antenatal appointments where intimate examinations took place.
When asked about this and other aspects of claims made by women Glamour has spoken to, HMP Bronzefield said it was unable to comment on individual cases.
HMPPS’ policy has since been amended and now states that handcuffs shouldn’t even be used while travelling to antenatal appointments, as well as during them and labour, unless in exceptional circumstances. HMPPS has also called for more training on the definition of ‘exceptional circumstances’ when handcuffing pregnant women.
Currently, there is no data collection on the use of handcuffs on pregnant women across prisons.
“I was sobbing in the shower thinking, ‘What’s going on? Why are they doing this to me?’, she recalls. “It felt really dangerous because I had a massive bump, it was slippery, and I was having contractions with a handcuff on me. The prison officer had to help me get dressed. I felt so humiliated and degraded.”
Later, Joanne was “doubled over on the bed having contractions in absolute agony”, and remembers officers “chatting away about the holidays they were going on.” “I was invisible to them,” she continues.
“The whole lead-up felt like a bigger ordeal than actually pushing the baby out,” she says. When the time came to push, she “had no energy”.
After over an hour of struggling to deliver, an incision and forceps had to be used, and Joanne suffered a haemorrhage, losing nearly three litres of blood. She believes the distress and sleep deprivation from being handcuffed made her less able to push, impacting her birth.
Pregnant women in prison are seven times more likely to suffer a stillbirth and twice as likely to give birth prematurely.
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and NHS England recognise all pregnancies in prison as high risk, while the Royal College of Midwives and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) have said that prison will never be a safe place for pregnant women.
Dr Laura Abbott, a midwife and Senior Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, who specialises in research on maternity provision in prison, reiterates that “11 countries around the world don’t imprison pregnant women or new mums. I can’t see why the UK can’t join them…many women have been victims of crimes more serious than what they are actually in prison for themselves,” she says.
From 2023–2024, 215 pregnant women were held in custody and 53 babies were born to mothers in prison. Data on how often restraints are used during antenatal appointments and labour is not available, but Joanne’s experience isn’t an isolated one. Since February 2025, six women have publicly complained about the improper use of restraints at HMP Bronzefield.