#HMP Styal's Mother and Baby Unit

[thepastisalreadywritten]

xxx

[world-of-wales]

GIGGLY PRINCESS ♡

The Princess of Wales, Patron of Action for Children visited a mother and baby unit at HMP Styal in Wilmslow to highlight the importance of strong mother and baby relationships to a child’s development, even in the most challenging of environments | 11 FEBRUARY 2025

[thewales-family]

The Princess of Wales visits an 'Action For Children' mother and baby unit at HMP Styal, a prison and young offender institution in Wilmslow, England -February 11th 2025.

[theroyalsandi]

British Royal Family - The Princess Of Wales visits an 'Action For Children' mother and baby unit at HMP Styal, a prison and young offender institution, near Wilmslow in Wilmslow, England. (Photo by Phil Noble) | February 11, 2025

[theroyalweekly]

A visit to HMP Styal’s Mother and Baby Unit learning about the vital role of strong, loving, and consistent relationships in a child’s early development. Run by @actnforchildren the unit provides crucial support for new and expectant mothers in prison, helping to strengthen bonds and break cycles of reoffending. -- The Prince and Princess of Wales

[princesscatherineblog]

Catherine, Princess Of Wales visits an 'Action For Children' mother and baby unit at HMP Styal, a prison and young offender institution on February 11, 2025 in Wilmslow, England. 

[princesscatherinemiddleton]

The Princess of Wales, Patron of Action for Children, visited a Mother and Baby unit at HMP Styal to highlight the importance of strong mother and baby relationships to a child’s development | February 11 2025

[regalfille]

Princess Kate Middleton visited New mothers at the Women Prison HMP Styal 

Kate Middleton stepped out in brown on a rainy day to meet new mothers in Prison

Princess Kate Middleton wore Blaze Milano Anyway Checked Wool with an unidentified brown High-neck jumper, Sézane’s Naelle Skirt, Katherine James Pearl Earrings and Gianvito Rossi Glen Boots to visit HMP Styal. More details on Regalfille. 

[ukrfeminism]

The British public backs reforms to how pregnant women and mothers are sentenced in courts, a new poll shared with the Observer has found.

Polling conducted this month by Survation, on behalf of the campaign group Level Up and the women’s charity One Small Thing, found 53% of respondents believed a mother with a baby should not be sent to prison with her infant if a community-based alternative was available. Only 28% disagreed, with the rest answering “don’t know”. A similar majority believed the long-term effects on a child should be a key consideration when sentencing a mother.

There is currently no obligation for judges to consider pregnancy or maternity in sentencing decisions.

The findings follow the end of a consultation by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales on revised guidelines for community and custodial sentences. A number of recent high-profile cases have highlighted issues of pregnancy and maternity in custody. In 2019, Aisha Cleary, a newborn baby, died in Surrey’s HMP Bronzefield when 18-year-old Rianna Cleary was left to give birth alone in a prison cell without assistance.

In 2020, 31-year-old Louise Powell gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Brooke, alone on a toilet in Cheshire’s HMP Styal when a prison nurse did not respond to emergency calls. Official figures show stillbirth is seven times more likely when a woman gives birth in prison.

Dr Shona Minson, research fellow at Oxford University and leading expert on maternal sentencing, said evidence showed women as a whole were less likely to commit further offences when sentenced within the community. “A short sentence of imprisonment can mean a woman loses her home, job and children. If she is also pregnant, her baby and herself are put at risk as a prison is not a safe place for mother or baby due to the limited healthcare available,” Minson said.

“These risks make a custodial sentence a disproportionate punishment for a pregnant woman.”

Sophie*, 40, spent part of her pregnancy six years ago in prison and lived in its mother and baby unit for the first 14 months of her son’s life. “I look back and think of the stress I carried throughout my pregnancy when my baby was developing. He must have felt that stress every single day. How was that fair on my child? For a pregnant woman or mother, the punishment of prison is doubled,” she said.

“We were like caged animals: you felt like if you put a foot out of place, the officers would take your baby away. They shine a torch in your room at night if your baby cries. It’s a suffocating, stressful environment.”

Sophie’s son is now six and has behavioural issues which she attributes to the stress of infancy in prison. She does not know how to tell him about the first 14 months of his life, she said.

Esther Sample, head of policy, research and influencing at One Small Thing, said the imprisonment of women and mothers saw “lives torn apart across generations”.

“This is needless and preventable, and alternatives exist such as diversion schemes, problem-solving courts, support from women’s centres, or Hope Street, our pilot residential community in Hampshire. The community justice sector needs to be prioritised and invested in so we can prevent the cycle of trauma that imprisonment creates for mothers and their children.”

Janey Starling, co-director of Level Up, said: “While sentencing must be based on evidence, not public opinion, it should be encouraging to courts to know that the public do not want to see mothers and babies in prison where community alternatives are available. The Sentencing Council must introduce new measures that bring an end to the needless harm that so many pregnant women, mothers and babies endure in prisons. Prison will never be the best start in a child’s life and even short sentences can have a lifelong negative impact.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said improvements had been made. “This includes employing specialist mother and baby liaison officers in every women’s prison, conducting additional welfare checks and stepping up screening and social services support.”

*Name has been changed

[royal-hair]

Catherine, Princess of Wales visiting the Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) at HMP Styal prison near Wilmslow - 11.02.25

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The Princess of Wales Visits An 'Action For Children' Mother And Baby Unit

Catherine, Princess of Wales, visits an 'Action For Children' mother and baby unit at HMP Styal, a prison and young offender institution, near Wilmslow on 11 February 2025 in Wilmslow, England.

📸 Phil Noble-WPA Pool / Getty Images

[world-of-wales]

THE CHILDREN'S PRINCESS 🩷

The Princess of Wales, playing with a baby during her visit to a mother and baby unit at HMP Styal near Wilmslow to highlight the importance of strong mother and baby relationships to a child’s development, even in the most challenging of environments | 11 FEBRUARY 2025

[thewales-family]

The Princess of Wales visits an 'Action For Children' mother and baby unit at HMP Styal, a prison and young offender institution in Wilmslow, England -February 11th 2025.

[theroyalsandi]

British Royal Family - The Princess Of Wales visits an 'Action For Children' mother and baby unit at HMP Styal, a prison and young offender institution, near Wilmslow in Wilmslow, England. (Photo by Phil Noble) | February 11, 2025

[theroyalweekly]

The Princess of Wales arriving at the “Action For Children” mother and baby unit at HMP Styal.

The Princess is the patron of Action For Children.#PrincessofWales -- Prie 🥀

[ifreakingloveroyals]

Through the Years → Catherine, Princess of Wales (984/∞) 11 February 2025 | Catherine, Princess of Wales visits an 'Action For Children' mother and baby unit at HMP Styal, a prison and young offender institution, near Wilmslow in Wilmslow, England. (Photo by Phil Noble-WPA Pool/Getty Images)