Woman Says Guards Ignored Her As She Gave Birth Alone In Her Jail Cell

A Colorado woman has filed a federal lawsuit after she was forced to give birth alone in her jail cell. Diana Sanchez was arrested on July 14, 2018, on charges of identity theft and taken to the Denver County Jail. She informed the guards that she was eight months pregnant, and two weeks later, she went into labor.

Sanchez says she told deputies and nurses at the jail on at least eight separate occasions that morning that she was experiencing contractions and needed urgent medical care.

"Instead of getting Ms. Sanchez and her baby immediate medical attention," nurses and deputies at the jail "chose to take a 'wait and see' approach to their care, as though it were not patently obvious to anyone — with or without medical training — that Ms. Sanchez was in labor and required immediate medical attention," she claims in her lawsuit.

Sanchez screamed in agony for nearly five hours, and the entire harrowing ordeal was captured on a surveillance camera near her cell. She gave birth to a baby boy at 10:44 a.m. but paramedics did not arrive until 11 a.m. She says this delay could have been fatal because she was taking methadone for opiate withdrawal, which could have caused complications during the birth.

"Ms. Sanchez was forced to deliver Baby J.S.M. on a cold, hard bench, feet away from a toilet, in a jail cell at the Denver County Jail, all alone and with no medical supervision of treatment."

The Denver County Jail issued a statement saying they have changed their policies in how pregnant inmates are treated but were unable to comment specifically about the lawsuit.

"Ms. Sanchez was in the medical unit and under the care of Denver health medical professionals at the time she gave birth," Serna said. "To make sure nothing like this happens again, the Denver Sheriff Department has changed its policies to ensure that pregnant inmates who are in any stage of labor are now transported immediately to the hospital. Unfortunately, because there is a lawsuit pending, we are unable to provide further comment at this time."