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Human rights don't end when the cell door closes

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date25 September 2021
Publication titleDaily Record, The / Sunday Mail (Glasgow, Scotland)
When she came to, her baby daughter had been delivered. She bit through the umbilical cord.

She cleaned up some blood, put the placenta in the bin and crawled into bed with her dying baby.

But still nobody came. Until it was too late.

Her baby was already dead. Baby A was born and died on September 27, 2019, in Europe's biggest women's prison.

William

The pathologist can't determine whether the baby girl was born alive or stillborn but the fact remains - her vulnerable 18-year-old mum was forced to give birth alone and scared while in the care of the state.

Despite calling for a nurse twice, Ms A was ignored and forced to endure hours of agony and pain while officers at the private Bronzefield prison in Middlesex went about their business.

The report from the Prison and Probation Ombudsman makes for grim reading.

Ms A made two internal phone calls and pressed her bell twice to ask for a nurse before giving birth. Her first call lasted a minute while her second, 25 minutes later, was immediately disconnected.

A prison officer shone a torch into her cell and "didn't see anything out of the ordinary" but Ms A said she was on all fours on the floor.

The report said: "Ms A was failed."

It's all to easy to dismiss what happened to Ms A with a shrug of our shoulders and think whatever happens in prison doesn't matter to people outside and why should we care?

We should care. Very much...

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