The lawsuit, filed by Pregnancy Justice on behalf of McElroy and her daughter, further claims that medical staff gave her only a diaper and Tylenol while she endured severe pain and worried about the safety of her baby.

According to the complaint, another inmate eventually assisted McElroy in delivering a baby girl who was not breathing when she was born on the prison floor, as prison guards watched. The filing says two women housed in the same pod attempted to revive the newborn by removing mucus from her mouth and rubbing her until she finally cried.

The complaint also alleges that, after the delivery, a guard told the women: “Y’all should’ve pushed that motherfucking baby back in” and punished the women on the cell block, prohibiting them from going outside and to religious services, and revoking phone privileges.

  • Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    I read the whole article, twice, to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating how fucked up this was.

    McElroy, who was being held on charges stemming from an allegation of substance use during pregnancy

    She was put in jail on charges stemming from potentially endangering the life of her child via drug use. However, when it came to actually protecting the life of the child in question;

    According to the complaint, another inmate eventually assisted McElroy in delivering a baby girl who was not breathing when she was born on the prison floor, as prison guards watched. The filing says two women housed in the same pod attempted to revive the newborn by removing mucus from her mouth and rubbing her until she finally cried.

    Motherfucking guards watching this unfold, then did jack shit to help the child when it wasn’t breathing. God fucking damn. Stop the world I want to get off.

    If anyone is interested, you can get the court filings here, through the pregnancy justice website.

  • morysal@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Even people who fully support tough prison systems should be able to agree this is the kind of thing that makes a country look morally broken.

  • grue@lemmy.world
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    McElroy, who was being held on charges stemming from an allegation of substance use during pregnancy

    “You’ve been accused of potentially harming your baby, so we’re going to deny you medical care to make sure of it!”

    Fucking barbaric. Every single one of the law enforcement personnel involved ought to be [redacted].

    • Insekticus@aussie.zone
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      It’s built to dehumanize the inmates. Capitalism can’t function without it and until it is burnt to the ground, it’ll keep happening.

      • spitfire@lemmy.world
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        And you it’s supposed to resocialise them. It works when done properly. But in the US&A it’s just a money making machine

    • Default Username@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 days ago

      What are your thoughts on reforming it to the level of the Norweigen system instead of abolishing in an absolute sense?

      I’d like to hear an argument as to why that, combined with abolishing capitalism in favor of a system that prioritizes mutual aid, such as anarchism, wouldn’t work, especially when it comes to violent criminals or power seekers/exploiters.

      • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
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        2 days ago

        It would be up to the community. If anything anarchism is the only form of government that is resistant to bad actors “taking it over” because it would just result in what is essentially a village cult while the sane communities cut ties with them. There cannot be a permanent council or alliance of communities that govern their spheres of influence or else you aren’t really practicing anarchism as you’ve just built an unnecessary hierarchy.

        Edit: but to clarify, the community would ultimately choose how to deal with these members. Whatever method, good or bad, that may be.

      • youcantreadthis@quokk.au
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        3 days ago

        Start over from scratch do not reform if you still think you need something and you might be surprised at how little you need except one death camp for all the old advocates of it and I bey we could have that run by robots on llm’s and a few land mines

          • youcantreadthis@quokk.au
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            2 days ago

            I’m more into giving them what they believe in and setting it up as a museum I’m not saying it’s perfect and nobody new would go in prison for prison fetishist’s I wouldn’t be caught dead in a fur suit those things look miserable but imall for furries having them

      • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
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        2 days ago

        This is going to sound crazy but, we don’t. We create a global standard for education that all of humanity maintains for the betterment of the next generation and the MAGAs will naturally vanish.

        • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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          2 days ago

          That’s great for the future, but the past MAGAs who have done so much damage still need to be dealt with decisively. They don’t get to just walk away from the treason, corruption, and pedophilia.

          • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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            2 days ago

            Something that’s been made very clear from existing penal systems, both in America and elsewhere, is that incarceration doesn’t actually solve anything: it does give people the chance to reform, and whilst punitive justice may give some initial catharsis to people who have been victimised, restorative justice is a much better path for healing for all.

            That doesn’t mean we should let them get away with the awful things they’ve done. The damage that has been wrought was done so largely by people who have power, and thus they should not be trusted with that kind of power again (tbf, that kind of power is stuff that no-one should have, but still). We don’t need to take away their basic rights in order to do that.

            I know that there would be a heckton of people for whom figuring out a way forwards is far from simple, in terms of how to remedy past harms when the people responsible may have no inclination to try help with that. This would be such a radical departure from how justice has typically functioned that there would be a tremendous amount of learning to be done in terms of how to implement this, as well as difficult periods whilst the benefits of a more compassionate society would not yet be fully evident yet. However, I don’t think it’ll be possible to build something genuinely better if we give into our desire for punitive justice.

            Because don’t get me wrong, I want to punish them. I want them to suffer for what they’ve done — I want to be one of the people hurting them, even. But I don’t want to be the kind of person who wants that kind of thing, because I don’t think it’s productive for society or for me. If we want to be better, we have to choose to be better

    • youcantreadthis@quokk.au
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      No I think weshpuld keep one death camp for all of it’s enforcers and advocates I don’t want to live in a world with that scu m they need to die

        • youcantreadthis@quokk.au
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          We can phase that last one out but that us the only reason Im against abolishing I don’t want anyone else kept there like how I think if you think we should have slavery its totally okay to slap shackles on you and use you like a work animal a world in which many worlds are possible means letting others live by their own ethics

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    Seeing lots of dehumanizing wording here. I think it is important to acknowledge that this behaviour - as disgusting as it is - is very very very human. Humans who abuse other humans under the excuse of being the better humans because morals each group uses for themselves to justify dehumanizing the other group. only if we are aware of how the human condition is affecting how we approach the world can we find a way to make this world a place that holds hope for those who are not in power! Also: pigs are great creatures that dont display antisocial behaviour like seen here.

  • Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip
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    3 days ago

    Thats… Maybe a new depth of just how traumatic of experiences we as humans can subject eachother to…

    Holy fucking Christ man.

      • CentipedeFarrier@piefed.social
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        Which is a legit concern, birth is a major medical event with possible complications galore even if it goes well, and literally an emergency in many cases. Women die during childbirth all the time even with the best care.

    • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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      New depth? If this is a peak for you in how aweful humans can be to their own, leave it at that and stop looking.

    • youcantreadthis@quokk.au
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      You have never worked with populations targeted by police this is pretty normal for them it just doesn’t happen to straight cis white women with housing very often I’ve seen worse this calendar month on three separate occasions this is literally every cop I won’t even tell you my stpry

      • Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip
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        Yeah thats fair, our system sucks shit and its a common problem that horrible things only get coverage when they happen to cis/hetero-normative white people, but does horrific shit to poor minorities all the time without anyone hearing about it :(

        I don’t work in social work and fortunately none of my friends are without housing, so its not something I’d hear about happening to people