Inmate Claims Her Fetus Is Being Unlawfully Detained

A lawsuit filed by a Florida inmate charged with murder alleges unlawful imprisonment—of her fetus. Natalia Harrell, a 24-year-old inmate at Miami-Dade County jail, was six weeks pregnant when she was detained in July on a charge of second-degree murder, according to the suit filed Thursday. Now eight months pregnant, Harrell alleges jail staff have endangered her unborn child—"a person as defined under the Florida Constitution and United States Constitution"—through unsafe conditions, in one case leaving Harrell trapped in a van as the temperature topped 100 degrees, and by denying Harrell proper prenatal care, per the Washington Post. As the fetus is innocent, it must be released immediately, her attorney argues.

The unborn child, with "rights independent of its mother, even though it's still in the womb," has been "deprived of due process of law in this incarceration," attorney William M. Norris tells the Post. "You simply have to have the unborn child as a factor in the equation." State attorneys have asked a judge to dismiss the complaint, saying habeas corpus doesn't apply. They also cite a lack of documentation to support the claim of improper medical care. Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Director James Reyes alleges Harrell, whose last medical appointment was inside the jail on Friday, has a history of declining or refusing medical treatment, per Fox News.

But Harrell claims she hasn't seen an obstetrician-gynecologist since October as jail staff have refused to take her to appointments. She also claims she's been denied vitamins. Her legal argument isn't entirely without precedent. As the Post notes, Brazil's Supreme Court granted habeas corpus to pregnant defendants in 2018, allowing them to await trial at home. Though Reyes says Harrell will be taken to a hospital to give birth, the suit claims the unborn child "will be likely brought into this world on the concrete floor of the prison cell, without the aid of qualified medical physicians and paramedics, and in the presence of violent criminals." Harrell is accused of fatally shooting a woman during an argument in an Uber, per the Miami Herald. Her trial is set for April. (More Florida stories.)