Witness Tells Jon Ossoff The Horrific Story Of Her Granddaughter Being Born In A Prison Toilet

4 months ago

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) questioned witnesses about experiences giving birth while incarcerated experience.

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00:00with a few questions and an expression again of gratitude for sharing these

00:05incredibly traumatic and difficult personal stories with the public and the subcommittee.

00:12Ms. Umberger, did I hear you correctly that you endured solitary confinement for three

00:18weeks after giving birth without access to your infant?

00:23Yes, sir. That is what happened.

00:33In this room for solitary for three weeks, so many things were going through my mind.

00:42It was so hot in there. No air conditioning. I would lay at the bottom of the door for air.

00:48Obviously, I couldn't shower properly. I didn't even have my property.

00:56Nobody could give me any, provide any updates on how my daughter was doing.

01:02Did she pass her hearing test? You know, did she, is she okay?

01:10Yeah, I was scared.

01:11And you were still in the early days of healing from surgery?

01:16Absolutely.

01:18You testified that you were able to hold your newborn baby for just two hours

01:27after giving birth and that you didn't see her again for almost three years. Is that right?

01:36Yes, sir. I had two hours to hold and look at her. I remember thinking just how pretty she was.

01:45Like I didn't deserve her. And I carried that memory. That's what I held on to.

02:00Ms. Leboy, did I understand correctly from your testimony

02:07that your granddaughter was born into a prison toilet after the prison and medical staff ignored

02:14your daughter's cries for help as she went into labor?

02:21Yes, sir. Prison staff ignored her for hours, for days. That particular morning,

02:34morning, she gave birth into a bowl. She was ignored. My granddaughter wasn't responsive.

02:46If it wasn't for my daughter's quick thinking and the cellmates,

02:50I don't think my granddaughter will be here.

02:54And your daughter and her cellmate had to resuscitate?

02:57Yes, they did. My daughter did. The cellmate was behind the wall.

03:04She heard my daughter screaming for help.

03:10My daughter didn't know the baby wasn't crying. She was unresponsive. So the cellmate

03:15was able to tell her through the wall to tap the baby and get the fluids out.

03:22And when the prison staff finally arrived, they ridiculed?

03:26They were, it was too late when they arrived. The baby was already,

03:30yeah, they made, they were very insensitive. They made jokes. She took her first swim.

03:36After your granddaughter had been put into a prison toilet,

03:38that was the response of the prison staff? Yes, they were very insensitive. They made jokes about it.

03:46When you learned as a parent and as a grandparent, the circumstances of

03:52your granddaughter's birth, how, how did you react? How did that make you feel as a human being?

04:00Really hurts. It was painful. She, actually, my first grandchild, my daughter's first child,

04:13I felt helpless to know that my daughter was scared alone, that they ignore her.

04:22They disregarded her. They were very insensitive. So it really hurts me as her mother

04:29to know that they treated her like this.

04:33Dr. Suffren, the subcommittee received dozens of reports, and I want to emphasize that for

04:37my colleagues on the subcommittee. We're hearing some very powerful personal testimonies.

04:45The subcommittee has received dozens of reports from currently and formerly incarcerated women

04:50that they went into labor, and then they were told they needed to wait,

04:54sometimes for days or a week, just to see a physician.

05:01You testified that access to health care may be variable, substandard, or even absent.

05:08I presume this means, doctor, that some state prisons and jails

05:11don't always have any qualified medical staff on site.

05:16Thank you, Senator, for your question. And yes, that is true. Many jails, especially small,

05:23rural jails, do not have medical staff on site 24-7. And in those cases, it's the custody officers

05:29who should always refer pregnant women with issues, such as labor, to a qualified medical

05:35provider or call 911. But that doesn't always happen. And a 2019 report from the Prison Policy

05:42Initiative, they reviewed policies at 50 state Departments of Corrections and the Federal Bureau

05:47of Prisons. They found that 24 states did not even codify that they had pre-existing arrangements for

05:53where they would take pregnant women in labor. Imagine that. No formal policy or protocol for

06:01where they would take a pregnant woman if she went into labor. They also found that 23 states'

06:06policies didn't include screening and treatment for pregnant women. And they found that the

06:12pre-existing policies didn't include screening and treatment for high-risk pregnancies.

06:17But even at facilities that do have medical staff on site, the correctional officer is still the

06:22first point of contact. You can't just pick up the phone and call your obstetrician or your midwife

06:28or get yourself to a hospital labor and delivery unit. So correctional officers are tasked with

06:34triaging and being the gatekeepers to medical care. And they are sort of tasked with acting

06:40training to know when someone's having a pregnancy emergency or when they're

06:44in labor. And what that looks like, you've heard what that looks like, is that someone

06:50could be neglected either intentionally or due to the lack of knowledge of the custody staff

06:58and she delivers in her cell. Thank you, Dr. Suffren.

Witness Tells Jon Ossoff The Horrific Story Of Her Granddaughter Being Born In A Prison Toilet

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