BEYOND CRUEL

Florida Woman Was Left Alone to Give Birth in Prison Cell

When she told a nurse she may be miscarrying then started vomiting, a nurse declined to call a doctor and told her to clean it up herself, she said.

Two Florida prison officials have been fired after an inmate was left to give birth alone in a cell. Stephanie Bretas, 28, said that when she went into labor at the North Broward jail, she begged for someone to help but she was left alone until just minutes before the child was born. “They just wanted to see how much pain I could endure,” she said. A Florida law requires pregnant incarcerated women to be seen by a “qualified health professional” once every 24 hours, but Bretas said she hadn’t seen a doctor for three days despite intensifying pain. When she told a nurse she may be miscarrying then started vomiting, a nurse declined to call a doctor and told her to clean it up herself, she said. The baby boy is now in state custody. The Sheriff’s Office fired two prison officials after a letter demanding accountability from the Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes.