A pregnant woman from Florida was forced to give birth to her baby in prison

A jailed pregnant woman told the sheriff's agents that she had contractions.

Tammy Jackson was still taken to an empty prison cell and left alone. Nearly seven hours later, they found the 34-year-old woman holding her newborn daughter, according to a two-page letter of a public defender.

"She was forced to give birth alone," public defender Howard Finkelstein wrote to Sheriff Gregory Tony of Broward.

Wow, it's so shocking! Except that's not it. This has already happened twice in the last two years to pregnant women in different US prisons. Both women said their cries were ignored by the prison staff.

In this case, Finkelstein wrote that the expectant mother began complaining to the penitentiary contraction staff at 10:16 am on April 10th. At 10 o'clock, she gave birth alone, alone, reported the Miami Herald.

"Scandalous and inhuman"

Finkelstein wrote that the sheriff's officers spoke to a doctor on duty four hours after Jackson had started complaining about contractions. The doctor said "he would check when he arrives" and he did – at 10 o'clock, after Jackson gave birth.

During the seven hours spent in his cell, Jackson was bleeding and alone.

"Not only has Ms. Jackson's health been carelessly ignored, but her child's life has also been critically endangered," Finkelstein wrote. "It is unacceptable that a woman, especially a woman suffering from mental illness, is left in her cell to give birth to her own baby." What happened to Ms. Jackson is outrageous and inhumane. "

Deputy leader Gordon Weekes, who also signed the letter to Tony, told the Miami Herald that Jackson remained in Sheriff's custody but was taken to the hospital for treatment. He could not provide details on the condition of the baby.

Jackson was arrested in late March, according to the Miami Herald, for not appearing. She had been arrested in January on charges of possession of cocaine and released, but had not been able to attend pre-trial services. An arrest warrant had therefore been issued against her.

Finkelstein wrote that county employees did not take the pregnant woman to hospital, where she could give birth safely. "Yet, in this time of extreme necessity and extreme vulnerability, (Broward Sheriff's office) failed to provide Ms. Jackson with the assistance and medical care that all mothers need and that she can not afford. they deserve. "

He calls for an "immediate review of medical and isolation practices in all detention centers".

USA TODAY asked the Broward County Sheriff's Office Guard Information Officer to make a comment, but he did not get an answer. The Miami Herald announced that the sheriff's office had opened an internal investigation into the incident.

"Let her shout for hours"

Last year, a woman gave birth alone in her Texas cell after declaring that the guards were unaware of her screams.

"I had my baby in my hands," said Shaye Bear.

Bear, a methamphetamine addict, was five months pregnant at the time and gave birth to a baby of one pound and two ounces, she said.

Another woman who reported having given birth in solitary confinement last year sued the county of Alameda in California. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in San Francisco in 2018, charges the Alameda County Sheriff's Office with "barbaric conduct" by forcing Candace Steel to give birth to a girl in a dirty cell.

"Nobody paid him attention, they just let it scream for hours," said Oakland lawyer Yolanda Huang.

How can this be avoided?

It looks like there should be a law against keeping pregnant women in solitary confinement to prevent this sort of thing from happening, is not it?

Maryland agreed.

The Maryland law comes into force in October and requires penitentiary and penitentiary institutions to have a written policy prohibiting women prisoners, during and after pregnancy, from going into isolation, including for medical reasons. Exceptions are possible but require regular monitoring of inmates and documentation.

READ MORE

Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2019/05/05/pregnant-florida-woman-forced-to-deliver-own-baby-alone-jail/1111553001/