In the spring of 2012, 22-year-old graduate student Kristina Sadler began asking questions about the nutrition and diet received by pregnant inmates in the Harris County Jail. She came up with questions, interviewed staff there and reported on what the jail considers adequate nutrition for incarcerated women who are pregnant. Researcher/writer Krishnaveni Gundu presents an analysis of what Sadler found in the context of other reports and information about pregnancy while incarcerated. TJP hopes more graduate students will see this and be inspired to begin similar projects at other county jails around Texas.

I panicked one day when the police came knocking on my door. I pretended not to be home, but they knew that I was. I decided that this was it; my life was a mess and I couldn’t trust anyone. So, hoping to die, I turned on my stove, placed an unused aerosol can into the flames and waited for it to explode, thinking that I would explode along with it. It did explode, but instead of killing me, it ignited my cabinets. I ran out of the apartment unharmed, but the entire apartment burned down. I told God that I was sorry and that I would never try anything like that again. Soon the police carried me away by my arms and pushed me into an EMS vehicle. They asked me if I needed medical attention to which I shook my head, “no.” I did not trust these people and I did not want them to touch me in any way.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) – in partnership with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) – established the National Resource Center on Justice-Involved Women (NRCJIW) to address the unique and complex needs of adult women involved in the criminal justice system. NIC will continue to deliver products and services to the field specific to justice-involved women, and will work closely with BJA and the Resource Center to assure a coordinated approach.

Homeland Security is running detention centers where women of color are often neglected or even abused, according to reports coming in from northern Arizona. It may be connected to an openly racist and hostile law enforcement culture there, but some say Texas immigration facilities are treating pregnant inmates the same way.

This article points to shocking negligence of incarcerated women who find themselves pregnant – and not just in Texas. Rachel Roth precisely describes the many ways jail staff fail to recognize and deal with women’s special needs, especially when they ignore signs of labor which leads “to women giving birth locked in their cells without any assistance.” See the remarkably forthright Texan Lisa Mijares, who stepped up at a prayer vigil in Abilene to describe what she endured giving birth in her cell after begging for help: https://classic.texasjailproject.org/2010/10/lisa-gave-birth-alone-in-taylor-county-cell/

      Recently the Texas Jail Project was  contacted by Ronda Hampton, a practicing  psychologist and family friend of a young  woman, Mitrice Richardson, who died  after being released from a county jail at night in  California. Her body was not found for nearly  a year. Hampton has joined others in  protests to the LA

Some Texas jails, including in Dallas County, are still shackling pregnant inmates during labor and delivery, a violation of a state law that passed last year, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and an inmate advocacy group charged Thursday.

“This comes as the United Nations released a report in early June, confirming allegations of serious rights violations that women face inside American prisons and other correctional facilities. “Inadequate access to health services in prison and detention facilities is characterized by delays, neglect, and mistreatment of inmates and detainees,” the UN report said.”

Via The Tennessean A federal judge has ruled in favor of a Nashville mother who triggered a national outcry after she was shackled during labor and after giving birth while in custody of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office. U.S District Court Judge William Haynes Jr. will set a hearing for damages against Metro government and

A preliminary report reveals shocking treatment of Amy; Robyn Claridy’s excellent story begins with these 2 chilling paragraphs: A Gregg County inmate found unresponsive in a jail separation cell was discovered kneeling in a praying position beside her bed before being removed and declared dead a short time later. Amy Lynn Cowling, 33, of Gilmer