This story from my hometown is deeply disturbing:
Blood covered Terra Keil's hands, and her cries echoed against the jail cell walls.But the Dubuque County Jail inmate said she took little notice of her own tears; she was focused on the howls coming from the infant squirming in her arms.
Early Tuesday morning, the 19-year-old Dubuque woman gave birth behind bars.
Keil claims guards ignored her pleas for help and left her to deliver her son alone. Jail officials say the mother never showed signs she was in labor.
"I guess it's a he said-she said situation," Keil said. "I know it's their word against mine, but how does somebody have a baby in jail without anybody noticing?"
Except it's not a "he-said, she-said" situation. Keil went into the jail cell pregnant, and came out with a baby.
"I was screaming I needed help, and I even pounded on the door a few times, but nobody came," she said. "Around 7 a.m., a guard came in and asked me if I wanted breakfast. I was crying and holding my stomach and said that I needed a nurse, but he only said, 'Do you want breakfast or not?'
"And that's when it hit me -- I'm going to have this baby on my own."
Police records confirm that she asked for a nurse when breakfast was delivered, and that she had screamed for help. What part of "women inmates are human beings" is so hard to understand?
Keil's son was placed in foster care, as she has another three months to serve. Seems like an opportune time to point to this new report from the Women's Prison Association about programs for inmates with newborns.
Related:
Voices of Justice Now: Safe motherhood
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It would be a horrific story even if the mother in question was a cold-blooded killer or similar. She was in for violating parole conditions of drug charges; as near as I can tell from the article, her 'crime' was simply being out late after being arbitrarily selected as one of the drug users who gets punished. This whole thing is made so much worse by virtue of the fact she never should have been behind bars in the first place.
Just to go off of what Lance was saying. I worked in a jail offering drug treatment services as my graduate practicum. My supervisor told me that a lot of women that are pregnant and addicted to opiates miscarry while in holding because opiate withdrawal causes such severe abdominal cramping.
Yet another reason why drugs should be legalized!
America's prisons are full of people who's only "crime" was either selling or using drugs (while America's two leading drugs - alcohol and tobacco - are perfectly legal)
This is heartbreaking.
Holy shit.
Wow- I'm from Iowa, too. My sister lives in Dubuque, and I go up there to see her whenever I'm home for a visit.
This is just beyond the pale. It's so obvious the cops are trying to cover their butts- there is NO way a woman with birthing pains would "not appear to be in labor".
I hope this girl is okay and gets the help she needs for her drug addiction.
Jesus. How did they NOT notice.... I hope they fire every single guard on that shift the f***tards.....
And...yeah. Would like to take this opportunity to say how STUPID I think it is to put some one with a drug addiction in JAIL!!!! Especially some one who is pregnant. You can get plenty of drugs in jail and how does imprisoning some one HELP them stop doing drugs??? There are treatment programs and rehabs for people who's crime is being chemically dependant on a substance...
*sighs* I've had problems with different ..substances... and I KNOW that jail is not the answer for people who cannot stop taking a drug....
Oh, I'm sure they noticed.
They just didn't care - since she wasn't a person, she was an inmate
And inmate are less than human.
It's not a question of individual corrections officers being sadistic bastards (although that IS a personality trait they look for when they hire for that position) but in the very function of correctional facilities as institutions.
It's C.O.'s job to dehumanize and abuse prisoners - that's what they get paid to do, because that is the function of prisons.
On the "replace incarceration with mandatory treatment" thing - I have to say no.
Folks who drink and smoke aren't forced to go to rehab - why should a different standard be applied to drug users?
Here's a novel idea - legalize drugs, and let people make their own choices, good and bad, without the government making those choices for them.
Add me to the "no mandatory treatment" list. People should be allowed to do what they want to their own damned bodies, screw the hypocritical pseudo-morality that declares some drugs "ok" and some "evil." If you have an addiction you don't want, treatment should be available, but drug use does not necessarily equal drug abuse/addiction.
"jail officials say the woman never showed signs she was in labor."
Seriously...a woman with a big belly holding it and crying in pain. What the fuck did they think was happening?
Yeah, a pregnant woman saying "I'm in labor" isn't enough of a sign??
oh. my. god. this literally made me nauseous. what if there had been complications? i can't even think about it. it is just so horribly dehumanizing and degrading...
im so beyond disgusted.
now that i got all of that out...
what can we do about this?
Isn't the old "he-said, she-said" defense used when something can't be proven? Hello?? Where do they think the infant came from?? It is a fact. She was in labor.
This is a disturbing story.
This is a disturbing story. That's so disgusting- that she could ask for a nurse and the guard completely ignores her. And she's sitting in this jail cell screaming with a crying newborn in her arms and they say she showed no signs of... That's unbelievable.
To what GREGORYABUTLER said: Most times inmates aren't seen as human. Which is a load of crap as well all know. And female inmates are really mistreated in prison... it's so sad.
What can we do?
I remember reading about a similar incident where a pregnant woman was bleeding and having a miscarriage. Just like this woman, she was screaming for help for hours and was completely ignored.
Just like fatima said, what if there were complications? I can't even imagine how horrible that situation would be. What if she needed serious medical attention? What if that lack of attention resulted in her death? What the fuck would they do or say to try and cover their asses then?
All inmates should be treated as human beings no matter what. But when a pregnant woman, especially one who is far along in her pregnancy, becomes an inmate, they should always make a point to give her a certain amount of attention in case of emergency. I think the consequences of not giving that attention are obvious.
Any word on whether she's suing them?
She should sue their asses. That's a shame.
InfamousQBert, you put it well. Anger and fear, and it wasn't my experience either.
Sigh. Why is the world such a fucked up place?
You know, it seems stupid (and totally the prison's fault) that all women aren't given pregnancy tests upon arrival so they can at least OPT for proper prenatal care, including knowledge that if they go into labor they will be properly attended to! UGH. I'm hoping this actually goes somewhere.
I'm not sure if they're given pregnancy tests or not, but in this case they definitely knew she was pregnant, since she was 9 months pregnant when she entered the jail (and the article says they marked it on a form when she arrived).
Your heart's in the right place, but the lawyer in me just cringed a bit. The last thing we want to do is give the state an excuse to seize urine that could later be used as evidence from people the police decide to arrest. The Fourth Amendment has enough problems.
It wouldn't have helped in this case regardless, as they knew she was pregnant.
The same thing happened here almost 9 years ago. It was a teenager in Juvenile Hall. She screamed for help throughout the night. Other wards were pleading on her behalf as well. I remember these details because it was just a month after I had my first child and I cried my heart out for that young woman.
Here's a short article about it.
http://secure.dibble.net/ids/albums//Ryan/Others/2001-Summer-wtc/dailynews.yahoo.com/h/kcra/20010907/lo/902616_1.html
fuck. i have no words. i can't even grasp the level of anger and fear that i'm feeling right now, and it wasn't even my experience.
I'm going to tell as many people about this as I can, and fight for women's rights with a renewed spirit. Terra - I won't let your story die!