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Pregnant women should not be sent to jail unless it is “unavoidable”, according to new sentencing guidelines.
The guidance, published on Wednesday by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, has been hailed by campaigners as a huge milestone. It outlines a raft of new measures to stop criminals who are pregnant or mothers of children under one year old being imprisoned.
According to the latest official data there were 215 pregnant women in English prisons between April 2023 and March 2024. Fifty-three children were born to mothers in custody during the same period, all but one of which took place in hospitals.
The new guidance, which comes into force on 1 April 2025, says courts “should avoid the possibility of an offender navigating the risks associated with pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period in custody unless the imposition of a custodial sentence is unavoidable”.
It also lists pregnancy as an appropriate reason to suspend a sentence. While the guidance will not end imprisonment of pregnant women completely, it is likely to make a significant difference to the number placed behind bars.
According to a statement from the Sentencing Council: “The guideline … includes some significant new areas of guidance, including new subsections on sentencing young adult offenders, female offenders, mothers, and pregnant and postnatal offenders.”
It states that even offences that carry a mandatory minimum custodial sentence may now not result in a custodial sentence if the offender is pregnant or has a baby. It adds that pregnancy and the postnatal period may contribute to “exceptional circumstances” that could justify not imposing this sentence.
Janey Starling of the campaign group Level Up, which advocates for an end to the jailing of pregnant women and those with babies, welcomed the changes. “This guidance includes a host of landmark measures affecting the sentencing of pregnant women and mothers of infants,” she said. “These changes are a huge milestone in our campaign and clear the path for statutory sentencing reform.”
The new Sentencing Council information acknowledges that prison is a high-risk environment for pregnant offenders, likely to be harmful to the physical and mental health of the mother and the child. Both the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and the NHS classify all pregnancies in prison as “high risk”.
At least two babies are known to have died in women’s prisons in the past three years, when their mothers, Rianna Cleary and Louise Powell, gave birth without medical assistance, at HMP Bronzefield in September 2019, and at HMP Styal in June 2020.
The Royal College of Midwives has said that “prison is no place for pregnant women”, and was one of several high-profile signatories to an open letter to the Sentencing Council in 2022 that asked for a review of sentencing practices for pregnant women.
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Eleven countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, have laws against sending pregnant women to prison.
Anna, a woman who was pregnant in prison and who co-founded the Level Up campaign, said: “The news of the new Sentencing Council guidance for pregnant women and new mothers is amazing.
“As someone that has lived experience of being pregnant in prison and having my child in custody and understanding the risks this carries, it brings me immense joy to know that this guidance should mean far less women endure what others before them have.”
Liz Forrester, a lawyer who campaigns with the organisation No Births Behind Bars said: “This is a seismic change we have been campaigning for, finally recognising the deadly impact of prison on babies and pregnant women.”
Ministry of Justice sources said they could not comment on decisions made by the independent Sentencing Council but that the new Women’s Justice Board launched in January was focusing on reducing the number of vulnerable women sent to prison.
