The GEM Debate:
Should This Mother Have Been Allowed To Pump Breast Milk In Jail? (POLL)
The Brown County Jail in Wisconsin recently jailed Britney Weber, a mother of a 3-week-old baby. The jail wouldn’t allow Weber to pump breast milk for her daughter, which prevented her from continuing to lactate. She says that her daughter is spitting up and has other digestive issues because she wasn’t allowed to express her milk.
Weber was taken to jail on February 19 on contempt of court charges related to a traffic case. Her bond was set at $1,066, but Britney couldn’t pay so she had to spend a week in jail. She was released on February 26. While there, she asked if she could pump milk to feed her baby.
Jail officials denied the request because, as the Green Bay Press Gazette reports, “The jail allows inmates to express milk in cases where a physician or nurse considers it necessary. But they say they can’t do so without a medical reason.”
“Everybody stresses the importance of breast-feeding,” Weber tells the Gazette. “You’d think that for people who were there for a short time, they would allow it.”
But Sheriff’s Capt. Larry Malcomson says they don’t have enough refrigerator space or the facilities to allow all jailed moms to pump.
“We try to be very accommodating,” said Malcomson’s boss, Sheriff John Gossage. “But the fact is that when you’re incarcerated, you lose a lot of privileges that you otherwise had when you’re not in jail.”
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As a huge supporter of breastfeeding moms, I have several issues with this one. Allow me to tackle some of them one-by-one:
1. “You lose a lot of privileges that you otherwise had when you’re not in jail.”
Okay, this makes sense. Jail time is punishment. Part of serving time is that one misses out on freedoms and the ability to enjoy many aspects of life. However, the problem here is how one defines privilege. Is human nutrition a privilege or a right? In this case, it’s a right that should extend to the baby, who depends on her mother for sustenance.
2. “The jail allows inmates to express milk in cases where a physician or nurse considers it necessary. But they say they can’t do so without a medical reason.”
This is bureaucracy gone wrong. When is it not medically necessary for a person to eat? And, again, this should extend to the baby, as she is dependent on her mother.
Also, if the jail really needs a doctor’s stamp of approval, how about the medical need to prevent engorgement? I’ve been there, and let me tell you, engorgement is a problem—a very painful problem. Breasts can become so swollen that they feel like bricks. They are sensitive to even the gentlest touch. Wearing a bra is painful. You can run a slight fever and the lymph nodes in your armpits can swell, too. Not to mention that engorgement can lead to mastitis. Medical condition, indeed.
3. The jail doesn’t have enough refrigerator space or the facilities to allow all jailed moms to pump.
This jail says they accommodate nursing mothers if it’s deemed necessary; clearly they have some capacity to do so. If they can’t store milk in the fridge, then at least allow a mother who is jailed for just seven days to pump as needed and dump the milk. Her baby may have to receive formula for the week, but chances are good that mom can go back to nursing upon her release.
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I know people will say that Weber committed a crime, so too bad for her. I think we, as a society, can and should be better than that. Let’s not forget that Weber’s infractions stemmed from traffic violations—not exactly the crime of the century. But even if her infractions had been more serious, I still don’t see the benefit of denying a baby the right to her mother’s milk.
I don’t know if Weber receives public assistance, but let’s pretend for a moment that she does. She will have to use that assistance to get formula. If we can put effort into drug-testing welfare recipients, surely we can make sure that a mother who wants to breastfeed—which costs the taxpayers nothing—is able to do so, wherever she is.
I’m sure there are lots of details we don’t know about Weber and we don’t know all the variables that went into her ending up in jail. To me, this feels like a case where common sense and compassion should have prevailed. I don’t know that there is a good reason to punish a baby, even if Weber herself could have done more.
What do you think? Should Britney Weber have been allowed to pump her breast milk while she was in jail? Take the poll and share your thoughts below.
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Alexis Trass Walker lives in Gary, Indiana, with her husband and four children. She is managing editor of Good Enough Mother. Read more about Alexis on her blog www.lilliebelle.org or follow her on Twitter @LillieBelle5. You can email her at alexisnw16 [at] gmail [dot] com.
