When I began to brainstorm a possible topic that would result in an interesting and dynamic research paper, I became both fascinated and frustrated by the women’s prison system. As I engaged further into my research, pregnancy and birth in prison struck me as a topic that required greater awareness in society. I quickly noticed that the treatment of women in our prison system was beyond poor, especially where pregnancy and birth are concerned. After discovering the effectiveness of prison nursery programs, I was astounded to find that they were not more widespread. This discovery sparked my curiosity and I soon began to brainstorm how we could open up a conversation concerning prison nursery programs and how to make them more widespread across the United States. Through extensive research looking at both the perspectives of mothers in prison as well as the correctional officers, I found that by establishing nursery programs a more positive outcome will result for mothers, babies, and the nation as a whole.
ANALISA JOHNSON is a rising sophomore at Boston University’s Sargent College majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She was born in San Francisco and moved to Sacramento, CA shortly after, where her love for writing and arts quickly flourished. In addition to writing, another passion of Analisa’s is volunteering in her community, and she’s spent much of her time involved in Staging a Miracle, a visual and performing arts program for marginalized youth. Analisa hopes to obtain her masters in speech pathology and early intervention work with young children. She would like to thank Professor Samantha Myers for her encouragement, guidance, and constructive feedback throughout the process of writing this paper.