The death of a 9-day-old newborn whose mother was whisked back to federal prison in Victorville shortly after giving birth at Loma Linda University Medical Center has inspired a grass-roots effort to enact prison reforms for women.
A federal inmate at the High Desert penitentiary has launched an online petition demanding reforms for women under the First Step Act, a law signed by President Donald Trump last December to reform the federal prison system and reduce recidivism.
The petition, titled “Transition Women in Federal Prison Camps to Community-based Supervision,” proposes house arrest and electronic monitoring rather than incarceration for minimum-security federal inmates who are mothers convicted of nonviolent offenses.
It was launched July 4 on change.org by Eve Mazzarella, a former Las Vegas Realtor serving a 14-year sentence at USP Victorville. She formed a group called Women’s Prison Reform, which has a signature goal of 1,500; as of Tuesday, more than 1,100 people had signed the petition.
Three days earlier, on July 1, fellow prisoner Cauncenet “Sonnie” Brown’s prematurely born baby, Naghibe Swan Serrano, died at Loma Linda University Medical Center.
Concerns over the separation of children from mothers who have been convicted and incarcerated for nonviolent crimes, and “generational criminology” — the tendency for children to follow in the footsteps of their criminal parents — was a driving force behind Mazzarella’s petition.
Need to explore alternatives
“This tough-on-crime stance for non-violent offenses hasn’t worked. How can we be smarter on crime when there are so many women who are in prison who don’t necessarily have to be. We have to look at alternatives,” Mazzarella said in a telephone interview Tuesday from the prison, where she is serving time for her role in mortgage fraud scheme that caused more than $52 million in losses to federally insured banks, according to the FBI.
“By taking the woman from the home, there’s something that happens that’s different than when a man goes to prison,” said Mazzarella, who is scheduled for release in 2026.
The death of Naghibe Serrano shook Brown’s fellow inmates, including Mazzarella, at the prison’s women’s camp, prompting the formation of Women’s Prison Reform.
“Sonnie and I are close personal friends. We live in this small community here. This is an example of something that happens all too often that shouldn’t,” Mazzarella said.
Brown, who is still in custody but now resides in a halfway house in Rubidoux, was moved by the online petition.
Hope death ‘changes something for the better’
“I hope that what happened to me, nobody else has to go through,” Brown said in a telephone interview. “I just hope something positive comes out of it. I just hope (Nagibe’s) death changes something for the better.”
Brown, a former St. Louis police officer, pleaded guilty to conspiracy last year for her role in taking bribes from an ambulance-chasing chiropractor in exchange for providing the chiropractor and his wife, Mitchell and Galina Davis, with traffic accident reports, which the Davises used to recruit potential patients. The Davises also were charged and convicted in the case.
Brown is scheduled for release in January 2020.
Nagibe’s father, Noe Serrano, was appalled by the medical treatment Brown received at the prison and the alleged actions of its health services administrator, Randall Gilliam.
Brown, who had a high-risk pregnancy due to her age and complications arising from the birth of their first daughter, now 4 years old, was ordered by a doctor to see an OB/GYN twice monthly when Brown surrendered in March to begin serving her 10-month sentence. The doctor examined her during intake, when Brown was eight weeks pregnant.
Brown, according to Serrano, never saw an OB/GYN until complications arose on June 21, when Brown was taken from the prison to Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville, which lacked the facilities to treat her. Desert Valley recommended Brown be taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Apple Valley, but Gilliam refused to allow that and ordered she be returned to prison.
Brown, according to Serrano, arrived back at the prison about midnight on Dec. 21. Five hours later, her water broke in her dorm, and she was rushed to St. Mary’s, then subsequently to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where she gave birth to her daughter at 22 weeks. Three days later, Brown was sent back to prison and never saw her daughter again. Naghibe died nine days later.
Couldn’t see daughter
“She couldn’t go back and see her daughter,” said Serrano, 44, of Perris. “They said she couldn’t see her anymore until she got out.”
Loma Linda University Medical Center spokeswoman Briana Pastorino declined to comment, citing federal law precluding the public release of patient information.
The Bureau of Federal Prisons declined to comment Tuesday on the allegations of negligence against USP Victorville and Gilliam regarding Brown and her prenatal medical treatment, or lack thereof.
Serrano said he was flattered that Mazarrella and her fellow prisoners in Victorville formed Women’s Prison Reform and started the online petition on Brown’s behalf, and was surprised to hear that more than 1,100 signatures had already been gathered.
“I really wasn’t expecting that. It’s really good news,” he said.
Posted by https://goo.gl/TXzGV5
No comments:
Post a Comment