First, check with your local agency that runs that particular jail / prison system: County, State, Federal. They make the rules. If you work in a hospital, check with your own P&Ps. They coordinate with the penal system rules.

Inmates have no rights other than humane treatment, (NO, this is NOT intended to lead to a discourse on the definition of "humane") and a plastic pump is a device that can be broken, filed, and used as a weapon. 

We even argued that the hand pump could be kept in the Infirmary and mom could go there by appt to use it under supervision. No go. That's called Special Favors, or such as that. No one gets something the other inmates can't have. Lactation is not considered a medical issue.

The best thing you can do (if you are allowed to visit the inmate) is teach mom to hand express, including RPS. Get a good printed one-page instruction sheet she can study and memorize while she is is the hospital. Then she can do it when the opportunity permits in the shower or wash basin. If she is soon to be released, it can be enough to keep something going for when she is reunited with baby.

If not, it can help her avoid engorgement, pain and mastitis while she dries up. Yes, she can get infirmary treatment for fever / mastitis as that is now a medical issue.

The general penal system attitude is that the suffering endured by the family of the inmate, including baby, was caused by the inmate's actions, not by the penal system.

I have been asked to visit in the Security section of my hospital a number of times. Only once was the inmate allowed to have a hand pump, but she was expected to be released in less than 2 weeks.

Just stating facts as I know them and have seen them in action.

Phyllis


---- Casey Jah <[log in to unmask]> wrote: 
> Does anyone know a woman's breastfeeding rights in jail.  Specifically, does she have to be given a place to pump regularly?  Does the state provide a pump?  Any ideas where to find out?  Thanks!
> _________________________________________________________________
 
--
Phyllis Adamson, IBCLC, RLC
Glendale, AZ.
[log in to unmask]

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