Vivência de mulheres em situação de cárcere penitenciário durante o período gestacional

The gradual increase of violence in Brazilian society has being resulting in a growing of the prison population over last years, as well as the proportion of women than men. The participation of women in crime and responsibilities within her family makes this phenomenon a growing social problem. Women prisoners are mostly young, in reproductive age, making pregnancy a recurrent situation while they are serving a sentence. The studies about female criminality are poor and not helpful about its real dimension, especially when targeted to women who experienced pregnancy in this environment. Given these considerations, this research had as its object of study the experience of women in prison during pregnancy: analyze the experience of women in prison during the gestational period. This is a descriptive and qualitative study. The data were sourced through a semi-structured interview with nine incarcerated women, between August and September 2011, who met the inclusion criteria previously established, and organized according to the precepts of content analysis according to Bardin. Through this coding and classification process became a central thematic: the experience of women in prison during pregnancy, resulting in three categories: category 1 interpersonal relationships; category 2 - feelings that permeate the pregnant woman in prison; and category 3 absence of health care to incarcerated pregnant. The data were analyzed according to the available literature and the study revealed that interpersonal relationships, maintained by these women in prison, were marked by distance from family members, primarily due to socioeconomic factors, being a challenge for addressing of pregnancy in prison and reports of abuse of power by employees working in the institution. The women, who experience pregnancy in prison are more likely to experience feelings of worry, doubts, sadness and fear for baby s health due to lack of antenatal care and about the prison environment structure to meet your needs. The health care aimed at these women is poor and often does not occur, endangering the baby s life and his own mother, this is being a troubling reality in public health system. Finally, it is expected that this study can give visibility to an issue rarely discussed in the literature and contribute to the construction of specific public policies for this reality, in order to minimize the effects of incarceration during pregnancy