Pregnancy and working as a prison officer

The report describes how pregnant prison officers experience their pregnancy while working in one of the Danish Prison and Probation Service’s prisons. The report is based on interviews with 67 mothers who have recently given birth and was commissioned and financed by the Danish Prison and Probation Service.
The study is based on the same questionnaire as the one used in a nationwide, representative questionnaire survey of absence due to sickness among pregnant women. This nationwide survey has been commissioned and financed by the Danish Ministry of Employment, and the results are described in the Danish National Centre for Social Research report 10:07.
The present study shows that pregnant prison officers are on average absent due to sickness or other reasons for 69 working days during their pregnancy. In comparison, the number of working days the representative group of pregnant women are absent from work is 29.
Furthermore, the study shows that 17% of pregnant prison officers have experienced violence during their pregnancy. This is a high figure compared with the figure for the representative group of pregnant women; only 4% of this group have experienced violence during their pregnancy. Women working in some other areas, e.g. certain institutions offering social services, also experience some violence. Responses are based on pregnant women’s own definition of violence.