Teen Mom In Prison Cell Lost Her Newborn After Being Left To Give Birth Alone: Report

A newborn died in prison after its mother, an 18-year-old inmate, was left unattended in her cell during her labor, a new investigation has revealed.

The mother, identified as Ms. A, was an inmate of HMP Bronzefield, Europe’s largest women’s jail, in Middlesex, U.K., when she lost her baby girl, reported Evening Standard.

An investigation report by Prison and Probation Ombudsman, released Wednesday, highlighted a series of failings on the part of prison authorities that resulted in the death of the infant on Sept. 27, 2019.

The mother was remanded in custody for the first time on a robbery charge after suffering a "troubled and traumatic" childhood.

As per the report, the teen pressed her cell bell twice on the night of the labor to ask for a nurse, but nobody came. Though a prison officer came to look at her an hour later, they did not find anything out of the ordinary. The teen told the investigators that she was on all fours at the time.

The teen then remembers being in "constant pain" before passing out while giving birth. She was also unable to reach the cell bell. When she woke up, her daughter had been born but was not breathing.

She also had to bite through the umbilical cord herself before trying to wipe up the blood on the floor. The report said the teen then put the placenta in the waste bin before getting back into the bed with the baby. But the child was purple and not breathing.

The prison staff only discovered what happened the next morning.

A pathologist was unable to determine whether her baby girl was born alive or was stillborn, the report said.

"Ms. A gave birth alone in her cell overnight without medical assistance," said Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Sue McAllister in the report.

"Overall the healthcare offered to her was not equivalent to that she could have expected in the community."

Investigators also found that the staff working on her block weren't aware that Ms. A was due to give birth imminently, and information sharing between Bronzefield and health agencies was poor. No one had a full history of her pregnancy either.

The Ombudsman also made several recommendations to improve the outcomes for pregnant prisoners so that this tragic event is not repeated.