Baby dies in prison after pregnant mother gives birth alone

[RedToothBrush]

amp.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/04/baby-dies-in-uk-prison-after-inmate-gives-birth-alone-in-cell?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
Baby dies in UK prison after inmate ‘gives birth alone in cell’
Police investigate unexplained death at Bronzefield women’s prison in Surrey

The case raises serious questions about how the woman came to be unsupervised and without medical support during her labour and birth, and about the conditions at the privately run prison.

And

Bronzefield is Europe’s largest female prison, holding up to 557 inmates, and is operated by Sodexo Justice Services. Concerns have been raised previously about the care of prisoners.

In the case of Natasha Chin, who died at HMP Bronzefield in 2016, an inquest jury found that neglect and systemic failings at the prison had contributed to her death. Four women have died at Bronzefield since July 2016.

There is a mother and baby unit at the prison and women whose babies are born in prison, or who already have a baby when they enter prison, can keep the infants with them until they are 18 months old.

And

Jane Ryan, a solicitor at Bhatt Murphy Solicitors who specialises in cases of women in prison, said: “There are serious concerns raised about risk issues arising from lack of access to midwives when labour commences, access to pregnancy records and full maternity care. It is an indictment of our prison system that a woman was giving birth in a prison cell. There must be a full independent investigation, and possibly an inquest, into these horrific circumstances.”

Dr Kate Paradine, the chief executive of the charity Women in Prison, said: “All mothers should have the right to give birth in dignity. But time and time again, we hear of situations where this isn’t happening, with mothers regularly being denied access to the vital health and maternity care necessary to give birth safely. This has devastating consequences not only for the baby and mother, but also for the rest of the family they are separated from.”

Worst bit?

A spokesman for the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman, an independent body which investigates deaths in prisons and detention centres, confirmed that they are not investigating the baby’s death and said it was not part of their remit.

Like WTF?!

This has made me feel actually sick with rage. That poor woman and her baby. Utterly disgraceful that this can be allowed to happen. No matter what the background, whether staff knew she was pregnant or not, she should have had access to emergency care no matter what time of night.

And there's men whining that their human rights are breached by not being allowed hair straighteners in prison They need to get a fucking grip on reality.

Thanks for the info, n OldCrone.

This is such a heartbreaking story, I can't stop thinking about it. I also don't understand the attitude of the prison officers, who will nearly all be women in a women's prison and a lot of them mothers too, allowing such a thing to occur. I know they are overworked and understaffed but during the night it will be fairly quiet with most people asleep (one thing prison inmates all love is sleep), so there isn't a valid reason for a staff member not to respond to an alarm call. Especially when they know a woman is pregnant and nearly due.

Scandalous.

god this is awful, just horrific

good to hear Kier Starmer has picked it up. addressing this sort of thing is what the Labour Party is for. if they could stop pissing members fees up the wall being fucking unelectable that would be super

my Tory MP is very civilised on the subject of women's prisons, I will email him about this

This is horrendous, completely agree that heavily pregnant women shouldn't be in prison unless there's overwhelming safety concerns.

The response from the PPO sounds very cold, they could have put it much better, but think they're right AFAIK, they can only investigate deaths of prisoners or people in custody, the baby wasn't technically in custody. Ie, if you visited someone in prison and died while you were there it wouldn't be down to the PPO to investigate. Of course someone should investigate though and that was so callous of the PPO to basically just say "not me" instead of having more sympathy and calling on whoever it is that should investigate.

Looked at prison and probation ombudsman remit:

‘Fatal incidents team
The Fatal Incidents Team investigates all deaths in custody including natural cause deaths, self-inflicted deaths, homicides and accidental deaths.’

But it goes on to specify prisoners or staff; so this baby doesn’t count apparently. I could accept this if they can explain why and point to the appropriate body that can investigate.

If it’s just a shrug and not our job mate, that is, well, I can’t think of the words for what that is.

A hundred babies born in prison every year?

How the hell is this happening?

It's almost as if the PPO have been set up only with men in mind and no thought given to the fact women have babies and it's possible for babies to not only be in prison, but also die in prison...

It I should beyond sad. It I should an indictment of prison healthcare. It is inequality of access to healthcare at its very worst.

Who is responsible for investigation? That would be both the prison healthcare provider and the commissioning authority. It will be the trust providing maternity services too.
It isn’t the prison authorities role to investigate baby death as the baby was not a prisoner. Their failing and investigation must focus on care of the mother.
Ultimately it will be the coroner if the baby was thought to be born alive.

email dashed off to my MP. It was quick and easy to do.

I fucking hate the world at the moment. Just speechless that this happened, in the UK, in a prison where four, FOUR women have already died in the past 3 years. There are obviously extremely serious issues at this prison, so I intend to find out exactly whose fucking remit this is and I’ll write to my MP and anyone else who might make even a shred of difference.

I’m horrified. How terrifying for that poor mother, to be alone, to need help, and ultimately to lose her beautiful baby RIP little one, you and your mummy deserved better.

This is awful :( shocking.

I’ve been following the tragic death in custody of Katie Allan up here in Scotland. Another horrific case.

If it’s just a shrug and not our job mate, that is, well, I can’t think of the words for what that is.

Yes. Such a callous response. They really couldn't manage anything more sensitive?

The Coroner will investigate. All deaths in custody are investigated by the Coroner and this takes precedence over any other parallel investigations such as the one by the PPO. The baby's cause of death will also be investigated by the Coroner, and the amount of evidence taken and considered will be extensive and thorough.

No consolation for what happened though.

Sorry, should have said "manner of death", not "cause of death". The latter will be investigated by the pathologist.

I would imagine this falls to the local ‘safeguarding partners’ (formerly LSCBs) to investigate, they will likely do a rapid review and then it will escalate to a more in depth local or national review (I’m guessing national).

Truly heartbreaking for mother and baby.

I might be wrong, but I am sure there is evidence that women are given custodial sentences more often than men for the same or similar offences. We do know that many, many women end up in prison due to being coerced into criminality by men.
Is it known why this poor woman was in prison?
Years ago (70s) women from the local prison were admitted to the hospital I trained in to deliver. We looked after them the same way we cared for everyone else.
I am absolutely shocked and disgusted by what happened to this poor woman and her child.

Beyond tragic

Some statistics about women prisoners here.
www.womeninprison.org.uk/research/key-facts.php

Over 80% are in prison for non-violent offences.
Over 60% have experienced domestic abuse.

singing lily thanks for info re coroner; it is good to know there will be investigation.

But I do wonder why have the PPO for some in prison but not others. There’s a reason they’re there in addition to the coroner.

I feel like as red said babies (and mother’s) have been overlooked in a system designed for men and the PPO should widen their remit.

I feel so sad & angry about this. That women has effectively been tortured.

This is an incredibly sad and shocking incident. I agree that if the PPO used the phrase "not in their remit" (its not in quotation marks in the article which suggests it is the journalist's words) it was an badly thought out statement. However, the article also states that the police are carrying out an invertigation and the PPO will carry out a full review and work with all relevant authorities. I feel its misleading to suggest no one is looking into why this has happened.

Surrey police said in a statement: “The death is currently being treated as unexplained and an investigation is continuing to establish the full circumstances of what happened.

Yes. Tortured is exactly the right word.
I can't even begin to imagine the pain and terror that poor woman experienced. Then for her baby to die. Nobody would ever get over an experience like that.

Yes endoftheline most women are not in prison for the same crimes as males. Many are on remand or in for short periods. But women and their babies do not matter in this misogynistic society, where it it more important for men in prison to have access to grooming products and women. Add this to the situation when black women and babies have worse outcomes in childbirth and it says it all. Pregnant women should not be in prison, most women do not need to be in prison.

In my naivety I had never thought about babies being born in prison before. 100 a year is a lot. I would also have imagined that heavily pregnant women would be put on a special hospital wing where they had better monitoring and also that they would be moved to an actual hospital to give birth. This story is shocking.

I wonder about babies born in prison having birth certificates stating this which will taint them for life. I looked it up but couldn’t find anything.

But what I did find was the government website that stated that children over 18 months would be placed in alternative care, such as with the woman’s parents or foster carers. No mention of placing the baby with their father. This struck me as very odd and insulting, both assuming women in prison weren’t in relationships with the fathers of their babies and that fathers of babies born in prison weren’t able to look after their own child.

Here’s the link: www.gov.uk/life-in-prison/pregnancy-and-childcare-in-prison

The whole page is depressing.

not part of their remit.

😟😭😢