Private prison must offer medical care for inmates’ babies, court says
A private prison housing mothers with infant children is responsible for providing the babies with necessary medical care, a state appeals court has ruled.
The ruling last week by the 4th District Court of Appeal also held that California might be liable if on-site state employees are negligent, as alleged in the case of a 5-week-old girl who suffered permanent lung damage when jailers refused to take her to a hospital for more than a week after she developed breathing problems.
Six privately run facilities for incarcerated mothers house about 150 children under age 6, but half of them were created without specific provisions obligating the companies managing them to provide healthcare for the children, said Carol Strickman, staff attorney for Legal Services for Prisoners With Children.
The Jan. 11 appeals court ruling called the absence of such regulations “a significant and unfortunate oversight” that the state needs to correct.
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