WATCH: Full hearing video here
Georgia woman testifies that she was forced to give birth into her underwear at Clayton County Jail after staff would not take her to a hospital and told her “don’t have that baby”
Sen. Ossoff: “We’re talking about pregnant women and their newborn infants. I don’t know what can be a more relevant measure of a society’s humanity than how we treat pregnant women and newborn babies.” [video clip here]
Atlanta, Ga. — Witnesses testified to shocking abuse of pregnant women in Georgia’s prisons and jails today.
U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Human Rights Subcommittee, heard more testimony of the abuse of pregnant women in Georgia state prisons and jails as part of his Subcommittee’s ongoing inquiry, including from a Georgia woman who testified that she was forced to give birth into her underwear at Clayton County Jail, despite testifying that she pleaded for months for medical assistance.
Ms. Tiana Hill, who was incarcerated at Clayton County Jail, testified that she repeatedly told jail staff she was pregnant over a period of months, and testified that when she went into early labor, she was not assisted and gave birth into her underwear.
“Instead of taking me to the doctor, they held me in the jail. I had to lay on a hard metal bed while going through labor pain. While I lay in the jail infirmary, I felt the tip of my baby’s head coming. The jail infirmary staff came in. He just watched me, looking at me in my underwear and just told me not to push. But my baby kept coming. There were male inmates freely passing by, just watching me reap in pain and scream as I was having my baby. It was like the people were looking at a concert, almost. They were just standing at the door, looking, and I’m stuck naked with my legs wide open,” Hill testified [video clip here].
“I felt faint, like I was going to pass out, but I could see all these people around me. My baby was born premature, in my panties. The lead jail infirmary staff looked in my panties and started to panic. The jail staff told me nothing, wrapped my baby in my dirty sheets, and left. Paramedics eventually came and got me and took me to the hospital. My baby was in the NICU. They allowed me to see him, but I was handcuffed to a wheelchair. I felt like that I was wrong. I did not like that, and it wasn’t necessary at all. That was it — that was all the time I had with my son,” Hill testified [video clip here].
Hill then testified that after giving birth and being taken to the hospital, she was then moved into solitary confinement on suicide watch. Hill testified that her baby then passed away, 5 days after birth.
“The jail wouldn’t give me any information about my baby once I left the hospital. For the first 4 days of his life, he was okay. I was able to call the doctor, but then on the 5th day of his life, my birthday, the mental health unit at the jail suddenly told me that my baby passed away. They wouldn’t give me any information as how it happened. I didn’t know, I still don’t know, and I don’t know where my son’s remains are. Instead of giving me mental health support, the jail just put me in solitary on suicide watch,”Hill testified [video clip here]. “This shouldn’t happen to any mothers. Ever since I arrived at the jail, no one listened to me. They didn’t care, and they did not care about my baby. The jail just assumes if I’m there, I am not a good person. No woman who is pregnant should have to go through this.”
In the hearing, Sen. Ossoff also heard testimony from a doula and an advocate serving pregnant and postpartum women behind bars. Ms. Tabatha Trammell, Founder of Woman with a Plan, testified that she was pregnant while incarcerated in Georgia 40 years ago.
“Throughout my pregnancy, I was in so much pain. I was always hungry because the jail and prison staff would never give me enough food. The guards took out their frustrations on us if we asked about the times that the snacks should be given out, or if the food was delayed — and it was often delayed — which is torture when you’re eating for two,” Trammell testified [video clip here].
“I was threatened with solitary confinement if I complained about being in pain or needing to see a doctor. I was placed in solitary confinement repeatedly, I’d estimate 150 times, mostly when I was in my postpartum recovery. In solitary, I felt extremely depressed and suicidal, because my body was changing, so I just cried, and I was always feeling hopeless. I was unaware that I had postpartum depression and wasn’t screened for it. I cried, and I kept ringing the buzzer for medical help, but that only delayed my food and delayed getting period products,” Trammell continued [video clip here].
Trammell also testified that the women she serves today encounter the same challenges that she faced and testified that the postpartum period is “extremely challenging” for incarcerated women in Georgia.
“Unfortunately, I have been working with incarcerated women and girls at the Gwinnett County Jail and other jails for the past 6 years, and they are still having the same exact issues that I experienced. The women and girls I work with tell me all the time how no one responds when they’re feeling nauseated. When they ask for medicines that can stop the nausea, no one brings them anything. Some of the ladies will call and tell me how they are in pain from hunger. Many of these women have no support outside the jail, and since commissary items cost money, they can’t afford to buy snacks,” Trammell testified [video clip here].
“The postpartum period is extremely challenging for women who are incarcerated. I have been in contact with Gwinnett County Jail and other jails throughout the state of Georgia, and I have never witnessed an incarcerated woman being able to have direct contact with her child after she has given birth,” Trammell continued [video clip here].
Ms. Dominique Grant, Campaigns and Operations Manager at Women on the Rise, a nonprofit organization serving women behind bars, testified that “incarcerated pregnant women in Georgia’s prisons and jails are continuously ignored,” and that pregnant women in Georgia do not get the required diet to sustain a healthy pregnancy.
“One woman suffered from preeclampsia, which is extremely high blood pressure that could harm to the mom or baby. She had awful headaches and swollen feet. Yet, prison staff told her that she ‘just wanted attention,’” Grant testified [video clip here]. “By the time someone decided to listen, her situation had worsened, and she needed emergency medical care. These women are treated as though they were not human, and incarcerated pregnant women across Georgia are treated this way.”
“The pregnant and incarcerated women we work with tell us all the time that their diets lack fruit and vegetables, and the only additional food they received was an extra snack of bread and a carton of milk per day, which sometimes was spoiled. The lack of access to real food and nutrition worsened their conditions, like preeclampsia and gestational diabetes,” Grant also testified [video clip here].
“The Subcommittee sustains its focus on the humanitarian crisis behind bars in the State of Georgia and the United States because this is, in my view, the most extreme civil rights problem happening in the U.S. today. Only by shedding light on it, calling attention to it, demanding and enacting change will it change,” Sen. Ossoff said in his closing statement [video clip here].
“We have obligations at the Federal, state, and local levels to treat this with the urgency that it merits. Human beings are enduring when it is in my view cruel and unusual punishment. And I just remind the public as we close, we are talking about pregnant women and their newborn infants. And I don’t know what could be a more relevant measure of a society’s humanity than how we treat pregnant women and newborn babies,” Sen. Ossoff concluded.
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