2-Week-Old Passed Away Inside All-Female Prison In Victoria, Australia, Because Staff Refused To Provide Medical Care

Nov 25, 2019 by apost team

Being a mother behind bars is difficult for any woman; however, for one mother in an Australian jail, the situation turned out to be tragic. After giving birth to a baby girl, the unnamed inmate was staying with her child in the Dame Phyllis Frost Center’s section that is dedicated specifically to incarcerated mothers and their children. Things seemed to be going well until the baby reached two-weeks-old and experienced a medical emergency. From that point on, the situation turned into a living nightmare.

The infant became unresponsive and the mother was calling for medical help. According to an investigation done by the Daily Mail Australia, the staff members refused to help since technically the baby is not an inmate. Medical personnel were not available, so the baby remained unconscious for as long as a half-hour.

As the mother screamed hysterically for help, a fellow-inmate mother attempted to assist by providing CPR; however, it was not enough and the baby passed away.

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Eventually, a nurse came to check on the situation only to discover that the baby was dead.

The jail is facing serious backlash for the death of the baby, but the leading officials are remaining loyal to their practices. They defend the choices of the staff and the jail itself by assuring the public that it is a safe and secure housing plan so that children up to six-years-old can stay with their incarcerated mothers. According to the Corrections Victoria, all children are given nutritional, developmental, and health care necessary to their needs.

According to Corrections Victoria, a nurse should have been making daily rounds and keeping adequate records of each child’s health situation.

The entire incident has raised eyebrows among the public with some people questioning the jail’s entire program. One individual stated that it is frightening that more children are entering a system that is obviously not prepared to give them adequate medical care. They pointed toward the possibility of children facing serious conditions and being unable to see a prison doctor for days on end.

Meanwhile, the police have not provided a definite answer on what happened to the infant that passed away.

In a follow up, the Daily Mail cited a former inmate who wished to remain anonymous but was referred to as Alisha. Alisha claims that she not only saw regular disregard of basic healthcare by the staff, but also experienced it firsthand herself. She stated that her water broke while she was in court, but it took prison and court staff five hours to give permission for her to get to a hospital.

Furthermore, she received almost no aftercare after the birth of her child. Being released back to prison four days after the birth, she experienced extreme pain and bleeding due to complications.

"I became extremely unwell with excessive bleeding and was lethargic", she said.

Despite multiple daily requests to see a doctor, prison staff denied Alisha any medical care.

"After six weeks and three phone calls to the ombudsmen one of the prison staff contacted medical saying I needed urgent medical treatment," she said.

"I was written up for two Panadol twice a day which I'd have to wait in line for for at least 40 mins each time."

"One night I buzzed up to eight times to say I was in extreme pain and they said I'd be placed on the list for night medication," she added. "I sat up until 5am and did not receive any medical attention."

She alleges that she only saw adequate medical care after she was released from prison six months later, and still suffers from complications due to the maltreatment.

What do you think of keeping children in jail with their mothers for up to six years? Do the risks outweigh the benefits? Should prisons who focus on rehabilitation and offer cohabitation for mothers and their children be more strictly supervised? Let us hear your thoughts!