‘Lack Of Humanity’: Richard Blumenthal Decries Mistreatment Of Pregnant Women Behind Bars

last month

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) questioned witnesses about the trauma that women who give birth while incarcerated experience.

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Transcript

00:00three of our witnesses. I'll try to avoid repeating what you may have already told

00:08us, but I think that this topic is so important and the problem is so

00:15prevalent that some of the answers may actually merit repeating. We're talking

00:23here about interviews that this subcommittee has conducted with a hundred

00:28formerly or currently incarcerated survivors of pregnancy in state prisons

00:34or jails where they've been denied proper care. When a prisoner, say it's a

00:42male prisoner, breaks a leg or suffers a concussion or a cut, they are provided

00:48medical care, often inadequate medical care, but there's at least a recognition

00:56that the broken leg has to be put in a cast or the cut has to be given stitches.

01:08Some medical care is provided. What we're seeing with the women who have been

01:18through pregnancy or postpartum experiences, 200 documented human rights

01:23abuses are simply beyond the pale in a civilized society, at least in the United

01:37States of America, and there's no way that it serves the purposes of

01:43incarceration. One of those purposes is punishment, but what we're talking about

01:49here is simply lack of humanity, that in no way is an acceptable form of

02:01punishment, and it is focused on women. Our investigation spanned 32 states. It's

02:10not isolated or unique to one state. Some states do better than others. One of our

02:18witnesses is from Connecticut, my state. I want to thank Corinne Laboy for

02:24sharing your experience, which I know has been deeply painful. I want to thank you

02:34for talking to me earlier for this hearing and giving me

02:38some of your insights into your daughter's experience. The simple fact

02:46is that the state of Connecticut, in denying Tiana proper care, not only

02:55violated basic standards of decency, but a court order, a consent order adopted

03:03years previously. Your litigation resulted in a settlement. I know that

03:12settlements don't necessarily explicitly acknowledge responsibility,

03:16but certainly they're a sign of it, and maybe most important, it caused

03:21Connecticut to adopt a statute. After your horrifying ordeal, Connecticut has

03:32attempted to reform the way it treats pregnant and postpartum incarcerated

03:37women at the York Correctional Institution, both through legislation and

03:42a shift in who provides health services at the facility. Pregnant inmates now at

03:49York are given counseling and information about their pregnancy,

03:54medical care, including periodic monitoring and prenatal vitamins, a diet

04:00to support a healthy pregnancy, sanitary materials, and access to qualified

04:06medical health professionals for postpartum treatment. At least that is

04:11what they are supposed to receive. That is what they are entitled to receive

04:18under law, and I'm proud that the state legislature has moved forward with those

04:25reforms as a result of your experience and, frankly, your advocacy. So I'm here to

04:31say thank you to you and Tiana and Nevaeh, your granddaughter, who is about to

04:42enter first grade in New Britain. Congratulations to her. Thank you so much.

04:48And your daughter will be released this fall, perhaps as early as October, and

04:56congratulations to her on completing her incarceration. But my question to you

05:05is, do you think these reforms are having a positive effect on the treatment of

05:14pregnant and postpartum women who are incarcerated, so far as you know, in the

05:19Connecticut system? I believe so. I haven't recently been up there because

05:31they've been on lockdown and, you know, other situations she was dealing with,

05:36but I believe she made some changes. Sadly, we have to come through this to

05:43make some changes happen, but they are getting, she's making some changes in the

05:50prison as far as prenatal care and other, and I hope that it just be worldwide, not

05:59just Connecticut. And your granddaughter has been in your home, correct? Yes, since

06:08she was five weeks, she came straight from the hospital to my home. And from

06:13what I can tell, she's been the light of your life. Yes, definitely, yes, she's a

06:20blessing. Probably Tiana will live at least for a while with you once she's

06:25released, along with your granddaughter. She'll be close, yes. She wants to have

06:32her own place and stuff, so, but she's gonna be close and she's gonna be

06:37spending a lot of time with the family. It's been years. You've been through a

06:42lot. Yes, sir. We're here not just to decry and denounce that inhumanity, but

06:51also to celebrate the enormous courage and strength of women like you and your

07:00daughter Tiana and Nevaeh, even though she's only now six years old. Yes. Who

07:09are working your way through a real ordeal and the aftereffects of it, but

07:16showing great grace and dignity and grit, which can be an example for us all. And

07:24your advocacy has special meaning today and always in Connecticut. Thank you so

07:29much. Thank you, sir. It means a lot. Thank you, Senator Blumenthal. Senator Welch.

07:36Thank you all for being here. What a wonderful mom you are.

‘Lack Of Humanity’: Richard Blumenthal Decries Mistreatment Of Pregnant Women Behind Bars

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