Jail denies mom right to feed her child

[Kulmiye]

A North Carolina jail is denying a Brazilian woman held in the facilities the right to pump breast milk for her 2 month old baby in spite of the fact that the child is rejecting formula and becoming ill:

 

Ezequiel Oliveira, who is helping care for the woman’s two children, said he spent hours at the jail Monday trying to get a breast pump to 29-year-old Danielle Ferreira. He said Ferreira’s baby, Samuel, is crying incessantly and keeps spitting up baby formula.

 

“We give him formula and put in the pacifier but he is crying day and night, day and night, all the time,” Oliveira said.

 

Jail officials say they can’t discuss conversations inmates have with medical staff, but are aware of the situation. In general, spokeswoman Julia Rush said, inmates are not allowed to express milk without a court order. She said mothers are treated for symptoms when they must abruptly stop nursing.

 

According to the Charlotte Observer, Ferreira was picked up on a shoplifting charge after her brother hid a CD in her baby stroller without her knowledge on a visit to a local mall. She is currently being held because she is undocumented. The Observer points out that “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement formally adopted guidelines that allow pregnant women or nursing mothers to be released under supervised conditions” but I guess that doesn’t apply to state or municipal jails.

[Kulmiye]

This story is appalling, and tragically it plays out a lot in the immigrant detention system.

 

It was pretty amazing when ICE actually released guidelines a few weeks ago to address concerns about the treatment of nursing mothers in immigrant detention. So of course they don’t bother to pass the memo on to the county jails who contract with ICE to hold immigrant detainees.