Pregnant women held in Alabama jail for months to ‘protect foetuses’ after drug arrests
Alabama law says that women suffering a miscarriage or stillbirth who are found to have used drugs during pregnancy can be sent to prison for 99 years
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Several pregnant women in Alabama have been held in jail for months after being accused of using drugs during their pregnancies.
Ashley Banks, 23, was arrested on 25 May with a small amount of cannabis and an unregistered firearm. She admitted to having smoked marijuana two days earlier, the same day that she found out that she was pregnant.
In Etowah County, this meant that she was unable to post bail and leave until it was time for her trial. She wouldn’t be able to leave the jail unless she went to drug rehab, meaning she was left in a position of limbo for three months, al.com reported.
Multiple women facing allegations of having used drugs while pregnant have spent weeks or months in the Etowah County Detention Center. The specific bond conditions the women face include rehab and a $10,000 payment.
The National Advocates for Pregnant Women is an organisation that works against legislation that criminalises pregnancy. Lawyers working with the group say that it’s unfair to put in place extra requirements on pregnant women who haven’t been convicted of a crime.
The policy in place in the area means that the Etowah County Detention Center is often holding multiple pregnant and postpartum women, despite it not being in line with expert advice on maternal health.
OB/GYN Dr Carolyn Sufrin at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine wrote in an affidavit that Ms Banks should be set free.
“The stress and conditions in jail and prisons, including lack of consistent access to standard prenatal care and mental health care, poor diets, poor sanitation, infestations with bugs and vermin, poor ventilation, tension, noise, lack of privacy, lack of family and community contact, can be detrimental to physical and mental health which can result in poor pregnancy outcomes for both the mother and the baby,” Dr Sufrin wrote.
Ms Banks, who was jailed around six weeks into her pregnancy, has a family history of miscarriage, according to al.com.
She began to bleed after around six weeks in jail. Court documents state that she was taken to Gadsden Regional Medical Center, where it was found that she had a subchorionic hematoma, meaning that blood gathered near the uterus wall.
Ms Banks said jail staff said she could sleep on the bottom bed, but the cell she was in had one bottom bunk and two women assigned to it, meaning Ms Banks ended up sleeping on the floor.
For five weeks in jail, Ms Banks continued to bleed. She said she was hungry and went through fainting episodes.
She was evaluated twice and found to be ineligible for free state addiction services. Her attorneys said investigators told Ms Banks to say that she had an addiction when she didn’t to be able to leave on bond, al.com reported.
“Ms Banks is currently incarcerated indefinitely because the State will not accept her $10,000.00 cash bail and she does not qualify for a residential drug treatment,” her petition stated.
She was finally released to community corrections on 25 August.
In another case, mother-of-two Hali Burns was arrested less than a week after giving birth and is still behind bars two months later, al.com reported. A drug test during her pregnancy had come back positive for methamphetamine and Subutex, which is used to treat pregnant women with opioid use disorder.
Ms Burns argued in court that the test was inaccurate and her sinus medication had prompted the false positive for methamphetamine, while she has a prescription for Subutex. However, evidence to support her claim has never been brought before a judge or jury, according to al.com.
Ms Burns was denied release on 19 August after prosecutors noted that she had recently been scheduled to go to rehab but was instead held in jail because of a positive drug test.
“That is further evidence that this is an individual who desperately needs the help we are offering here today,” prosecutors said, arguing that the bond conditions were meant to protect Ms Burns’ children from the harm of parental drug use.
The defence argued that the rehab requirement does not serve the core purpose of bond: protecting the public and guaranteeing the accused appears at trial.
“I have reckless murder cases where defendants have been released on bond,” Ms Burns’ attorney said. “Requiring her to go to rehab is not Constitutional.”
But Etowah County Circuit Court Judge Sonny Steen sided with the prosecution, writing in his decision: “The purpose of bond in any criminal case is not only to ensure a Defendant’s appearance at trial, but also to protect the community. The court has a duty to consider the safety of the children and others within our community.”
Aletheia House provides treatment for substance abuse. Executive Director Chris Retan said they frequently have availability for pregnant women, but that they shouldn’t be ordered to undergo treatment unless they actually have an addiction.
“I would say that the appropriate thing for them to do is to go to a drug treatment programme that matches their level of need,” Mr Retan told the outlet. “Residential treatment is for people with a serious disorder.”
National Advocates for Pregnant Women researchers tracked more than 150 cases of chemical endangerment in the county since 2010. Medical needs not being met in jail can lead to women being prosecuted as Alabama law states that women who used drugs during their pregnancy and who suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth, can be sent to jail for as long as 99 years.
The jail is operated by the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office, which states on its website that they work with Doctors’ Care Physicians, which provides medical staffing to the detention centre at all times.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Josh Morgan told al.com that “when a chemical endangerment arrestee comes into the Etowah County Detention Center, they are evaluated by medical staff as all arrestees are”.
“Then they are referred out to obstetricians. Once appointments are made, they are escorted to the appointments by deputy sheriffs,” he added.
The Independent has reached out to the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office for comment.