The Italian government has removed legislation that has protected pregnant women and women with babies under 12 months old from going to prison.
Previously, women found guilty of committing a crime automatically had their incarceration period deferred if they were pregnant or if they were caring for a baby.
But the parliament’s crackdown on “law and order”, largely driven from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni since taking power in 2022, has scrapped the law that once protected women and children.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi spoke to reporters after the amendment was passed in the Italian parliament.
“This is aimed at avoiding the use of the maternity status as an exemption when committing a crime,” Piantedosi said.
According to reports, pregnant women and women with babies would not be held in traditional prisons, instead in a separate, special facility where “lighter detention terms” are applied.
The move has been criticised by the left-wing political alliance, the Green-Left Alliance (AVS), who said the abolished law would allow for “abuse against pregnant women and their children… who are blameless”.
Andrea Iacomini, a journalist and spokesperson for UNICEF Italy, said the rights of children are “inviolable” and “should be recognised and upheld by all”.
The laws that allowed for the automatic deferral of sentencing for pregnant women and carers of young babies helped criminals like Ana Zahirovic avoid going to jail. She is 31 years old and a mother of ten.
Dubbed in the media as “Lady Pickpocket”, Zahirovic has “always been pregnant” or caring for a young child each time she has been arrested and convicted for theft. According to reports, she has 148 convictions to her name from the last 20 years. She now faces a 30-year prison sentence.
Can pregnant women go to jail in Australia?
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing (AIHW), there were 164 pregnant women in custody in 2021. This was about 7 per cent of all incarcerated women in that year.
Research from the AIHW has found women who are pregnant in prison are more likely to have greater mental health challenges, and are also more likely to use substances like tobacco, alcohol and other drugs while pregnant – compared to pregnant women in the community.
Each state has its own jurisdiction regarding sentencing exemptions/deferrals. In May this year, the Sentencing Advisory Council in Victoria released a report that recommended giving the rights to pregnant women to have their sentence delayed to allow them to give birth outside of prison.
According to the report, there are about 7,000 children in Victoria whose parents are incarcerated. About 85 per cent of women in prison have reported to have been pregnant in their life, while more than half reported having at least one dependent child outside of prison.
In April this year, there was a four-week coronial inquest into the death of Yamatji, Noongar, Wongi and Pitjantjatjara woman, Heather Calgaret. She died in custody at the Dame Phyllis Frost prison.
Calgaret was incarcerated when she was six months pregnant and her child was removed from her at birth. The inquest heard her experience giving birth significantly impacted her mental health, which ultimately contributed to her death in custody.