Pregnancy in prison partnership – International (PiPPi): Building a collaborative global network of best practice for and with women prisoners

It is well understood that the impact of being pregnant in prison has risks to the safety and wellbeing of women and their unborn babies. Pregnancy in Prison Partnership – International (PIPPI) is a collaboration of leading Midwifery and Health academic experts in Australia, the UK, the USA, New Zealand, and Canada who work with / are undertaking research into the health and wellbeing of pregnant women and new mothers in prison. We are a non-hierarchical collaboration of midwifery, medical, psychological, and health practitioners/academics, We are committed to the group as a collaboration with a focus on togetherness and a purpose to be a global network to build best practices for and with women prisoners. Our presentation will focus on how and why we brought our collaboration together, our current work, and our goals for the future. We will share our philosophy of working together for the greater good of the health and wellbeing of pregnant women and new mothers in prison worldwide. The impact of our work together will translate to highlighting the known health impacts, inconsistencies, and challenges of delivering midwifery care within patriarchal carceral institutions designed for punishment rather than health. We meet monthly via Zoom to explore collaborative grant opportunities, write together and share experiences of our different prison systems. We have prepared one manuscript to date which is currently under review. Our future plans include multi-country research to glean a worldwide perspective with recommendations to improve the health of perinatal women in prison.