The ‘Baby A’ death inquest has heard horrifying tales from a number of prisoners at a renowned women’s jail about the moment a nurse refused to touch’ an unconscious infant and how guards ignored their cries for aid.
When “Baby A” passed away in her mother’s arms at the Mothers and Children Units at Victoria’s Dame Phyllis Frost Center in 2018, she was just 12 days old.
The unconscious infant was not given CPR by a jail nurse, and guards ignored repeated intercom cries for assistance, according to the coroner’s inquiry on Thursday.
The disturbing statement comes in the wake of allegations that newborn newborns being held in the institution with their mothers are being made to wait up to an hour for pain treatment.
The Dame Phyllis Frost Center’s four new moms have exposed the Dickensian circumstances in which infants are housed.
An convict identified only as “Alice” testified at the inquest on Thursday that prison nurse Georgina Melody declined to help the infant after another inmate was forced to do CPR on the child.
Just now, the nurse remarked, “Oh, I’m sorry.” She didn’t touch the infant at all, Alice stated.
Around 5.30 am, Alice was the first prisoner to hear Baby A’s mother cry for assistance.
‘Baby’s not breathing,’ the anxious mother yelled.
Alice frantically pleaded with jail officers to unlock the door and provide assistance while other mothers confined within the facility went into a state of terror.
Alice complained, “They kept hanging up on me.” They claimed to have called a code and advised us to wait since we were at a loss for what to do.
According to Alice, the intercom to the room was turned off when the jail personnel became impatient with her constant calls.
According to testimony given in court, the jail guards did nothing except observe while another prisoner named “Donna” gave CPR to the infant.
They claimed to need authorization in order to open up, Alice remarked.
When prison authorities eventually entered the apartment, Alice said they acted callously toward the frantic mother.
There wasn’t any consoling, she said. ‘Someone asked her where the baby had been sleeping.’
Victorian coroner John Olle learned that women who shared the space had been advised to make sure their infants never slept on their beds with them.
After the moms were locked inside the unit each night at 7 o’clock, it was a rule that was often broken, according to Alice.
Despite the fact that her mother insists she was sleeping in her crib, Baby A was reportedly found laying by herself on her mother’s bed only hours before she passed away.
The inquest was held nearly three years after a Daily Mail Australia investigation made public the terrible death of Baby A, whose mother and identity are being withheld for legal reasons.
Some of the deadliest women in the country are kept in the Dame Phyllis Frost Center, including the “Black Widow” serial murderer Robyn Lindholm and gangland matriarch Judy Moran.
The coroner was informed that although Ms. Melody refused to do CPR on the infant, firemen who subsequently arrived at the scene desperately tried to resuscitate her.
Inmates begged the guards to “open the f**king door,” according to Beth, who testified at the inquiry under an assumed identity.
Everyone was in a frenzy, she said.
The young mother further alleged that after nightfall, their jailers had all but abandoned their baby.
It is particularly challenging for us at night when the infant is ill or has a fever, said Beth.
“We hit the intercom, we wait for confirmation, and then they need to take action, but at least it’s half an hour or an hour. They will provide Panadol for the kids and then log book and everything has to be done – it’s pretty tough – but this occurs at night,” the intercom operator said.
Donna spoke to the inquiry. The night before Baby A would pass away, she seemed fine.
The mother of Baby A, who had just been home from the hospital that afternoon, allegedly went on a cleaning binge while she held her before going to bed.
Donna heard the baby’s mother screaming for assistance and raced to provide CPR to the infant.
My maternal instincts came into play,” she said. “All the other moms were simply sitting there,”
Donna admitted to the court that she thought Baby A could already be dead.
“No life existed. She had a rubber-doll feeling. I could see the infant had vanished. The time had passed.
Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne, seen from above. It accommodates some of the worst female convicts in Australia.
Inside Melbourne’s Dame Phyllis Frost Center, infants are compelled to wait for care.
The inquest heard that despite worries from medical workers that Baby A’s mother was dangerously underweight, the mother had previously indicated a wish to leave the hospital with her child.
Alice asserted A complete bottle of baby formula had to be consumed by Baby A before the medical personnel would let Baby A’s mother return to custody, according to Baby A’s mother.
According to Alice, Baby A’s mother was tied to a bed when she grew upset.
Baby A spent two nights in the hospital despite the obvious worries of the personnel, then went back to prison.
The court heard that the baby’s mother, prison personnel, and investigators were all astonished by the prison nurse’s choice not to help the infant.
The mother of the child expressed her shock at the alleged inaction of her jailers in a heartbreaking impact statement.
She testified in court, saying, “I still cannot understand why none of the personnel performed CPR or anything for the infant until the firemen came.”
Concern about the nurse’s apparent neglect to help the infant was shared by other jail guards.
I didn’t witness the nurse give the infant any CPR, One of the guards said, “I thought this to be pretty unpleasant to observe.”
Another person remarked, “I was astonished and saddened by this lack of action.”
A jail operations manager admitted to the inquiry that he, too, was disappointed at Ms. Melody’s “inaction” that evening.
I was surprised that the infant wasn’t receiving medical attention, the man stated.
The inquest’s expert witness, Dr. Julia Charlton of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, criticised the nurse for her inaction.
She testified at the inquest that “the first responders could have administered earlier CPR,” in particular the on-site nurse who was a qualified professional. “The other first responders’ conduct cannot be criticised,” she said.
Despite the tragedy, counsel for the coroner’s assistant Rachel Ellyard informed the court that the inquiry will not focus on whether the jail programme really worked.
“I want to be clear that the inquiry is not about the legitimacy or propriety of the Mothers and Children Program or whether children should generally reside in a jail environment. In this case, the circumstances do not raise that more general issue,’ she said as she began the inquiry.
The inquiry does, however, aim to shed light on how Baby A ended herself imprisoned with her drug-addicted mother and jailers.
The case of Baby A, according to Ms. Ellyard, “raises important questions about how children in her situation are cared for and whether those with the authority and responsibility to act to protect Baby A’s welfare exercised those powers and responsibilities in a way which best protected her interest.”
The cause of Baby A’s death was ultimately identified as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
The investigation goes on.