A video from inside a jail cell, where a 26-year-old woman in custody gives birth alone and against her will, has sparked outrage on the internet.
“It was inhumane the way doctors and staff treated me. Like they didn’t care,” the woman said in an interview with Fox31 Problem Solvers.
Even if you commit a crime, you don’t deserve to be ignored or denied medical help. That’s according to the woman’s attorney, Mari Newman.
“When a city government thinks it’s okay for a woman to give birth in a filthy jail cell without the assistance of nurses or doctors, then we have a real problem,” the attorney further told Fox31.
Giving Birth Alone
It was in August 2018 that Diana Sanchez was arrested and had to give birth in a jail cell while pregnant.
Surveillance cameras captured Diana’s water breaking while she was locked up. But despite her calling out to the guards, no one helped her see a doctor.
The cameras show the pregnant woman writhing in pain.
She paces back and forth, then lays on the bed, shivering in pain.
“Unbearable Pain”
She called out for help multiple times from her cell, saying she needed assistance as her child was about to be born. But in vain, she had to go through the entire birth alone. It took five hours.
“The pain was unbearable,” she said.
Assistance Six Hours Later
Diana was in the cell for fraud after attempting to withdraw money from her sister’s bank account.
But even though she was suspected of a crime, she didn’t deserve that treatment according to her lawyer, who has since sued the city of Denver.
After 6 hours of calling and pleading for help, a nurse finally came. But by then, the child had already been born.
In 2019, Diana sued the city of Denver for the risk she and her son faced by not receiving medical help in her jail cell.
The video has received numerous angry reactions and criticism against the Denver prison.
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