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Prisons

HIV-Positive Inmates: The Neglected Population

By Kathleen Reeves, RH Reality Check

September 15, 2009 - 12:39pm

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There’s a sense—not always spoken, but implied—that a person in prison deserves to be there, and therefore doesn’t deserve health care, preventative or otherwise.


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Birthing Chains: Anti-Shackling Rally in New York

Reader diary posted by Anna Clark, RH Reality Check

July 6, 2009 - 10:20am

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Only four states have policies that bar the shackling of pregnant women in prisons, jails, and detention centers.
With nearly unanimous legislative support for the Anti-Shackling Bill,
New York looks like its on the verge of becoming the fifth state to
restrict a practice that is considered torture by the United
Nations--but only if Governor Dave Paterson allows it into law. Urge Governor Paterson to sign the bill at the Anti-Shackling Rally on July 9.


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Dept. of Civil Rights: Michigan's Ban on HIV-Positive Inmates Working in Food Service Violates Law

By Todd Heywood, New Journalist Fellow

April 24, 2009 - 2:46pm

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The Michigan Department of Corrections has prevented HIV-infected prisoners from working in food service positions since at least 1999. But the Michigan Department of Civil Rights argues that the policy violates non-discrimination statutes.

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Supreme Court Will Not Hear Case Limiting Abortion Rights

By Rachel Roth, RH Reality Check

October 6, 2008 - 11:02am

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The Supreme Court opened its new term with some good news for women: it rejected an appeal from the state of Missouri, which had hoped for one more chance to defend its unconstitutional policy banning abortions for women in the prison system.

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From Inside Prisons, Mothers Long for Their Children

By Christy Hall, Birth Attendants

May 9, 2008 - 7:00am

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The majority of women in prison are mothers of minor children, and women are the fastest-growing prison population in the country. We need to recognize and treat with compassion the humanity of these mothers.

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Minimums Matter: RH Access in New York Jails

By Rachel Roth, RH Reality Check

March 4, 2008 - 11:07am

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A report released today by the New York Civil Liberties Union discovers that access to reproductive health care services for women in New York jails is unregulated and lacks minimum standards.


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Women's Rights Vindicated on Roe Anniversary

By Rachel Roth, RH Reality Check

January 23, 2008 - 11:45am

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In a bit of poetic timing, a federal court of appeals issued a new decision upholding women's rights on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The case, Roe v. Crawford, concerns the near total ban on abortion access implemented by the Missouri prison system in 2005.


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Mothering as a Reproductive Right

By Malika Saada Saar, Rebecca Project for Human Rights

December 11, 2007 - 9:18am

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Where is the reproductive rights community in the over-incarceration of mothers and the almost systematic severance in the mother and child relationship as a result of maternal incarceration?


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Powerless in Prison: Sexual Abuse Against Incarcerated Women

By Nicole Summer, RH Reality Check

December 11, 2007 - 9:17am

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Surviving a sexual assault and then navigating the health care system to receive adequate counseling and reproductive medical attention is daunting enough for those who walk freely on the outside. For women in prison, these hurdles can seem insurmountable.


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