Condições de nascimento e o cuidado à criança no cárcere

Abstract

The number of children who are born and raised in the context of prison has increased proportionally to that of women of childbearing age, who experience a situation of prison in the country. This study aimed to analyze the care provided to children from 0 to 6 months of age who experienced the prison environment. The specific objectives were: to characterize sociodemographically pregnant and lactating women, who are in the prison context in the state of Bahia; describe the birth conditions of children in the prison context; apprehending the care provided to children aged 0 to 6 months by mothers, health professionals and prison officers; and, to identify the factors that interfere in the care provided to children from 0 to 6 months in the prison context. Qualitative research of exploratory descriptive nature, with an ethnographic approach. The study was carried out in two female prison units in the state of Bahia, which had a nursery unit. The research subjects were six deprived mothers, nine prison officers and 15 health professionals. The research was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee (CEP) of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), under protocol No. 2,876,907. For data collection, a form, semi-structured interview and participatory observation were used. The data were analyzed according to the “content analysis” technique, constituting five thematic categories: 1) The child in the context of vulnerability in prison; 2) Women in puerperal pregnancy - situation of vulnerability in prison; 3) Conditions for gestating, giving birth and being born in the context of the prison system; 4) Child care in prison - perceptions of health professionals; and, 5) Attention to the child in the prison context - a look from the prison staff. The results showed that prison is a place of vulnerability and violation of children's rights. Regarding the profile of women who experienced motherhood in prison, it was identified that they are young, black, poor and with low education. In relation to the birth conditions of children in the prison system, there were evidences of precarious situations of infrastructure in the prison unit, difficulties in transporting pregnant women during labor, and difficulties for mothers to provide care for their children after returning to prison - due to the scarcity of inputs and installation. Regarding the care for children provided by professionals in the prison context, daily care performed in prison, care during child complications and the challenges in providing care to children in prison were described. Finally, it was revealed that the surveillance system and the conduct of disciplinary practices in prison have an impact on the lives of babies. With this study, we allowed mothers, health professionals and prison staff to reveal child care within the prison system, highlighting the main difficulties for the development of child care. The data of this research point to the need for the elaboration of public policies, which guarantee children and their mothers, who live in the prison context, comprehensive care and congruent to their situation of vulnerability