Advocates are calling for action after dozens of pregnant women or their families alleged in a new report that jails in the United States have subjected them to severe mistreatment or medical neglect, including women who gave birth on dirty cell floors.
Bloomberg Law and NBC News published the findings after a year-long investigation involving interviews with over 60 people, including a dozen previously incarcerated women.
After reviewing federal civil rights lawsuits from 2017 to 2024, the reporters found at least 54 pregnant women or their families alleged to have been subjected to severe mistreatment or medical neglect. Many of the pregnant women who have made allegations about mistreatment had been locked up for “petty crimes,” the report states.
“No matter what crime a pregnant woman has been arrested for, there is no justifiable reason to ignore her cries for help, to not attend to her with urgency, to not care about her or the life she is bearing,” Amie Ichikawa, a former inmate and the executive director of the nonprofit Woman II Woman, told The Christian Post.
“In order for any progress to be made regarding this issue, we as a nation are going to have to have a change of heart,” she continued. “I pray that this report reaches those who are called to remember the prisoners as if they were together with them in prison, and that they start to act like the mistreatment and suffering of our sisters in jail is also happening to them.”
Tiana Hill, who has testified about her experience before the U.S. Congress, was held at the Clayton County Jail in December 2019 after being accused of battery and violating probation. For months, she claims to have reportedly asked jail officials for prenatal care, but she was denied, according to the report.
When Hill went into labor, she told the jail staff that she needed to go to the hospital, but the staff allegedly told her that she wasn’t pregnant and instructed her to return to her cell. She eventually delivered her son in the cell, and the newborn died four days later.
Hill later settled a lawsuit with CorrectHealth Clayton LLC, which denied the allegations. She is also pursuing a lawsuit against the sheriff and the county, both of which deny the allegations against them.
Ichikawa, who served nearly five years in the Central California Women’s Facility, asserted that the country “hates” incarcerated women.
“I don’t mean in a modern or emotional way, but as an action,” Ichikawa told The Christian Post. “Society, medical professionals, and our government have actively turned their heads to the ongoing female human rights crisis in our nation’s carceral system.”
Ichikawa said that she knows women who have given birth in shackles and children who were born in custody.
Other pregnant women who experienced pregnancy complications while incarcerated allegedly suffered medical neglect.
Lanekia Brown died at the age of 37 due to an abdominal hemorrhage caused by an ectopic pregnancy, according to a lawsuit. Brown had been accused of trafficking marijuana, and she was jailed at the Madison County Detention Center in Mississippi.
After she was jailed, Brown complained of escalating abdominal pain, but she was reportedly never seen by a doctor. The pregnant woman was allegedly left unattended in a medical holding cell, even as she vomited and bled.
“Every woman, no matter her circumstances, deserves compassionate and professional care throughout her pregnancy,” Brandi Swindell, founder and CEO of Stanton Healthcare International and Stanton Public Policy Center, said in a statement provided to CP.
“We cannot look away from their struggle. These mothers carry real children with real futures, and their lives have value and purpose. Supporting them is an expression of who we are as a just and compassionate society,” Swindell stated, calling for “immediate reforms” to the care provided to women behind bars.
“When we defend the most vulnerable women among us, we help build a culture of hope that lifts entire communities,” she added.
Rev. Patrick Mahoney, the chief strategy officer for Stanton Public Policy Center, also called for “immediate action” following the release of the report on the treatment of incarcerated women and their children.
“Congress and our nation’s governors must immediately investigate this horrific violation of women’s civil rights and implement policies to ensure incarcerated pregnant women and their children are protected and cared for,” Mahoney told CP.
“It is unconscionable for our political officials to remain silent as pregnant women are enduring this kind of mistreatment and abuse while under the care of our government,” he continued.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
