Georgia's alleged treatment of incarcerated pregnant women and deadly consequences draw national attention – WABE

A growing number of women who were pregnant while incarcerated in a Georgia prison are reporting denial of medical and psychological care and the serious consequences this had for them and their babies.

The women's testimony is part of an ongoing investigation into the abuse of pregnant women in prisons across the country, led by U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights.

“This is, in my view, the most extreme civil and human rights crisis currently unfolding in the United States,” Ossoff said Wednesday at a congressional hearing in Atlanta.

Tiana Hill, who was incarcerated in the Clayton County Jail for seven months in 2019, testified that prison staff refused to acknowledge her pregnancy despite multiple tests proving otherwise.

She gave birth to her son in her underwear. He died five days later.

“They wouldn't give me any information about how it happened,” Hill said, holding back her tears. “I didn't know, I still don't know, and I don't know where my son's remains are. Instead of giving me psychological help, the prison just put me in solitary confinement and monitored me for suicide.”

Tabatha Trammell also testified how little has changed since she gave birth in the Gwinnett County Jail 40 years ago. She is now a certified prison doula.

“Some of the women call me and tell me how hungry they are,” Trammell said. “Many of these women have no support outside of the prison and because the food from the cafeteria costs money, they can't afford snacks.”

Both Hill and Trammell are black.

At another hearing in Washington late last month, Jessica Umberger made it clear in her testimony that some incarcerated pregnant women are forced to undergo medical procedures, such as cesarean sections, that they do not want and then have to pay for them.

Many of the women are also separated from their babies shortly after birth, which likely leads to them ending up in foster care.

“It limits the prospects of the child and also tears down an entire generation,” Trammell said.

Earlier this year, the subcommittee released a report detailing how, over a five-year period, hundreds of children were reported missing from foster care and later became victims of sex trafficking. Others were placed in juvenile detention centers because there were not enough foster families to take them.

There is currently no reliable data on how many imprisoned women are pregnant or what the consequences of these pregnancies are.

However, two recent reports from the Washington-based think tank Council on Criminal Justice find that the gap between incarceration rates for men and women is shrinking, due in part to violent and drug-related arrests.

Men still make up a disproportionate share of people behind bars. But while the male incarceration rate nationwide fell by 10% between 2010 and 2019, the female incarceration rate rose by 12%.

A similar trend can be observed in Georgia.

During these years, the number of women in Georgia state prisons remained stable at about 2,000, while the number of male prisoners fell from a high of about 20,000 to a low of about 15,000, a 25% decrease, according to annual reports from the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Experts say tougher drug laws and higher barriers to rehabilitation after conviction particularly affect women, who are more likely to have children and have a history of abuse, trauma and mental health problems.