Alyssia Moulton, 34, is suing Southern Health Partners who are the medical provider for the lockup facility in Tennessee, along with several other defendants
Alyssia Moulton
By William Walker
07:58 ET, Aug 9 2024
A woman has claimed she was forced to give birth in a prison toilet after being put in solitary confinement.
Alyssia Moulton, 34, is suing Southern Health Partners who are the medical provider for the lockup facility in Tennessee, along with a number of other defendants. In a 65-page lawsuit, she claims staff had a deliberate indifference to her suffering and medical needs.
The lawsuit accuses staff and the medical provider of medical negligence along with other due process violations. It alleges that the inmate gave birth to her son while alone in a jail cell.
It reads: “Ms. Moulton was alone in her jail cell when she delivered the baby. She delivered the baby into the toilet. As a result of delivery into the toilet, A.M. suffered various injuries, including a blood infection of Gram-Positive Cocci and an eye infection of Citrobacter freundii.”
She was detained last year
According to the suit Moulton was detained on a burglary charge on August 19 last year. She was said to have only learned of her pregnancy after being tested by employees of Southern Health Partners while in jail that same day.
The lawsuit claims that despite this she was not scheduled for a doctor’s evaluation. It reads: “The failure to schedule Ms. Moulton for a routine pre-natal medical evaluation by a licensed physician was especially egregious.
“Ms. Moulton 1) was unaware she was pregnant, 2) had been using opioids while pregnant 3) was unsure of her last menstrual period, 4) even her last menstrual period as reported would make her at least 24 weeks pregnant, and 5) during her entire pregnancy, she had never been evaluated by a medical doctor.”
It goes on to allege that she was not given an ultrasound despite staff knowing she was pregnant and then left alone. The lawsuit adds: “Ms. Moulton was housed in medical isolation, where she spent 23 hours per day in her cell, with 1 hour per day out of her cell.
“This housing condition constituted solitary confinement. Ms. Moulton was housed in solitary confinement for the duration of her incarceration at the Montgomery County jail, from 8/19/23 to 8/27/23 (until delivery of her baby and transport to the hospital).”
She alleges that she complained to medical staff about contractions on the morning of the birth and despite an entry of a nursing staff visit her complaints were allegedly not taken seriously and staff ‘consciously disregarded the foreseeable risk that Ms. Moulton would imminently deliver her baby.’
She claims she was forced to deliver her baby alone
The lawsuit claims: “As a result of Defendants’ conscious disregard of this risk, Ms. Moulton gave birth alone in a jail cell, delivering her baby into the toilet. The jail cell in which Ms. Moulton was forced to deliver her baby alone is not a medically adequate facility.”
Moulton is said to have returned to solitary confinement two days after the birth before being re-uinted with her son on September 5, 2023. She goes on to claim her drug withdrawal treatment was nearly zero.
Moulton’s civil rights-focused lawyer Christopher Smith told Law&Crime: “We look forward to bringing this important case on behalf of Ms. Moulton and her child.
“This case raises important questions about the incarceration of pregnant women. Tennessee has one of the highest rates of female incarceration in the nation, which itself has one of the highest rates of female incarceration in the world. We hope this lawsuit shines a light on this often-overlooked social issue and raises awareness of the civil rights of pregnant inmates.”
