WEBER COUNTY, Utah — Deputies at the Weber County Jail helped deliver a baby last month after an inmate at the facility unexpectedly went into labor.
According to a press release from the Weber County Sheriff’s Office, things began November 22 when a 34-year-old woman was booked into jail after a judge revoked her bond and for two no-bail warrants.
That woman told authorities she was about seven months pregnant, so she was placed in a medical observation cell rather than with the general population. Five days later, the woman’s cellmate reported around 8:30 p.m. that the woman was having her baby.
Deputies responded to the cell, where they observed the baby’s head beginning to crown. Two nurses working elsewhere in the facility were contacted, and the deputies began assisting the mom in the interim.
One deputy had the inmate lie on her back while another inmate with EMT training monitored her vitals and others kept the woman calm.
“As soon as the nurse arrived, the baby girl was born into the hands of the female deputy and one of the nurses,” the press release stated.
One of the nurses said everyone involved felt a great deal of joy when the baby began to cry, saying, “she cannot describe the elation everyone felt when the baby finally took that breath and had a good loud cry!”
Deputies contacted a district court judge, who authorized the mother’s release so she could travel to the hospital with her newborn. Mother and baby were doing “great” after the delivery.
The sheriff’s office said it was an unexpected event, and to their knowledge this is the first, and so far only, time a baby has been born in the Weber County Jail.
“No one expects a baby to be born inside the Weber County Jail,” the release stated. “In fact, no one recalls it having happened ever in Weber County. But on November 27th, 2016, it did. The actions of the deputies and medical nurses truly showed a team effort in a moment where quick and decisive measures needed to be taken.”
