A playground at the visitation center of the California Institution for Women, in Corona, where children are allowed to visit their mothers. The photos featured here are from Mae Ryan's ongoing series 'Pregnant in Prison.'
This March, Patel became the first US woman charged, convicted, and sentenced—to 20 years in prison—for "feticide" related to her own abortion attempt.Her case immediately became a rallying cry among pro-choice advocates who point out that pro-lifers have long maintained that the criminalization of abortion would target only shady providers, not the women seeking them.Patel's case may be an anomaly, but it reflects a nationwide climate in which the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling that fetuses are not separate people with separate rights is routinely challenged. Restrictions to abortion have spiked in recent years.Read on i-D: Photographing America's Pregnant Prisoners
Prison guards escort inmates to their ob-gyn appointments at the California Institution for Women. Pregnant women get pre-and post-natal care at the prison, though Brittany Bass, who gave birth at the facility, said, "There's really no aftercare here. They just handed me a Kotex pad and said, 'Have a good day.'"


The Community Prisoner Mother Program in Pomona, California, allows a select group of low-level offenders to live with their young children until they turn seven years old. But there's just one such facility open in the state, and it can only serve up to 24 inmates.
