The tot’s gender and mother’s condition has not been disclosed following the d.e.a.t.h behind bars
PRISON bosses are investigating the tragic d.e.a.t.h of a newborn baby inside a jail.
The youngster p.a.s.s.e.d a.w.a.y in Derbyshire’s HMP Foston Hall when they were only a day old.
In order to determine how “Baby C” d.i.e.d at the prison, which also houses a Young Offenders’ Institution, an inquest is scheduled to be held.
The tot’s gender and mother’s condition has not been disclosed following the d.e.a.t.h behind bars on October 16, 2023.
It was confirmed by the Prison and Probations Ombudsman after featuring in its latest Independent Investigations Annual Report.
Ombudsman Adrian Usher said: “We are saddened to confirm that the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman are investigating the d.e.a.t.h of a baby.
“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family.”
The newborn was among 292 d.e.a.t.h.s inside prisons in 2023/24, according to the report.
A final investigation report will be published by the PPO after the inquest has finished.
After the f.a.t.a.l.i.t.i.e.s at HMP Bronzefield in 2019 and HMP Styal in 2020, three infants have now p.e.r.i.s.h.e.d in the English jail system in the past five years.
In September 2019, Aisha Cleary p.a.s.s.e.d a.w.a.y in her mother Rianna’s cell at the largest women’s jail in Europe, Bronzefield in Surrey.
Rianna, 18, endured more than 12 hours of labour and had repeatedly pressed her “cell bell” before anyone came to help.
Officers found her covered in b.l.o.o.d with her d.e.a.d infant after biting through the umbilical cord as she had no other way of severing it.
Before giving birth to her stillborn daughter, Brooke-Leigh, in a toilet at HMP Styal, 31-year-old Louise Powell pleaded for an ambulance.
She didn’t know she was pregnant before going into labour in June 2020.
A PPO report found the duty nurse made “a serious error of judgement” by not visiting Powell after they were contacted three times about her severe pain.
