Is Tulare County providing inadequate prenatal care in jails? Officials deny allegations
Tulare County officials are denying allegations by the ACLU of Northern California that pregnant inmates are not getting adequate prenatal care in its jails.
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux and his office take “any complaint about the care provided to inmates very seriously, including any complaint regarding the adequacy of prenatal care,” Tulare County Chief Deputy Counsel Diana L. Mendez said in a Dec. 14 letter to the ACLU.
“As you will understand, we cannot address confidential medical information,” she said in the letter. “However, please be advised that pregnant inmates receive regular checkups and exams from medical professionals, are offered meals consistent with a balanced diet, and receive educational information.”
Mendez’s statement came in response to a Nov. 18 letter from the ACLU, saying it was deeply concerned “over the severely inadequate and unlawful provision of prenatal care in the Tulare County jails.” It asked Boudreaux to respond within 10 days with details of how his agency planned to address the problem, in the interest of avoiding formal proceedings.
The ACLU is now weighing what steps to take next to “force” Boudreaux to take action, and suing is one possible option, said Faride Perez Aucar, a gender, sexuality and reproductive justice staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. State law requires county jails to provide prenatal care in county jails.
Boudreaux’s “lack of action and unwillingness to collaborate, all but guarantees that more people will have their health and pregnancies illegally endangered,” she told The Bee in an email. “It should be clear at this point that the county needs to create alternatives to incarceration so that pregnant people are not locked in cells where the prenatal care is non-compliant or non-existent.”
The ACLU’s November letter detailed the stories of three former pregnant women who were allegedly denied adequate prenatal care. The Bee earlier this month interviewed one of the three former inmates, who recalled her experience as “traumatizing.” Alexandra Meza, who was serving a one-year sentence for felony DUI, told The Bee she bled for three days before jail staff took her to the hospital.
Perez Aucar said there’s evidence that supports the women’s allegations, including court declarations and testimony from doctors. The ACLU said it successfully petitioned the Tulare County Superior Court to release three women who were not getting needed prenatal care.
“Despite extensive documentation, testimony from medical professionals, and a court ruling that affirmed the jail failed to provide women with prenatal care, Sheriff Boudreaux is denying all allegations,” Perez Aucar said. “It appears that the Sheriff is treating this emergency with the same disregard his jail officials showed the pregnant women in their care.”
The Sheriff’s Office, in its letter to the ACLU, also denied allegations that female inmates were not receiving menstrual products. As of October, women reported not receiving such products, the ACLU said.
All “Facilities that house female inmates maintain an ample supply of menstrual hygienic products provided at no cost to inmates,” the Sheriff’s letter says.
This story was originally published December 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Is Tulare County providing inadequate prenatal care in jails? Officials deny allegations."
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