Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga) is introducing bipartisan legislation to protect incarcerated pregnant women from abuse after hearing from a former inmate at Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto and others last year.
Sens. Ossoff and John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the Births in Custody Reporting Act to strengthen Federal oversight of pregnancy care in prisons and jails.
The bill would require states to report to the Attorney General information regarding pregnancy care and outcomes for individuals in custody, including the number of pregnant individuals in custody, their length of stay in custody, any pregnancy outcomes that occur while such individuals are in custody, and whether births took place inside the facility or at a hospital.
At last year’s hearing, Jessica “Drew” Umberger, who was incarcerated while pregnant at Georgia’s Helms facility in Atlanta, was among those testifying before a recent hearing by the committee. Umberger said that she was required, despite her wishes, to undergo a c-section, faced medical complications after the procedure, and then was kept in solitary confinement for 3 weeks after giving birth, without access to basic supplies.
Umberger (pictured) said her troubles didn’t end after she gave birth. After being transferred to Lee Arrendale, she said she was held in solitary confinement for three weeks after complaining that her cell was unsanitary.
She said she received no medical support while she was in solitary, and her C-section wound became infected.
“I didn’t think I would make it out of there alive,” she said.
Click here to read the Georgia Department of Corrections response to the allegations made during the hearing: Habersham state prison referenced at congressional hearing
Under the legislation, states that fail to provide the requested data to the Attorney General would face up to a 10% reduction in Federal funding.
“The humanitarian crisis behind bars in the State of Georgia and across the United States is one of the most extreme civil rights problems happening in the country today,” Sen. Ossoff said. “As part of my sustained work to safeguard human rights, I’m introducing this bipartisan bill to better protect pregnant women in prisons and jails in Georgia and nationwide.”
Last summer, as Chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee, Sen. Ossoff conducted an investigation into the abuse of pregnant women in Georgia state prisons and jails.