Woman who gave birth in jail settles suit

An East Bay woman who sued Alameda County and its medical services contractor after she was forced to give birth to her daughter in the county jail will receive $250,000 in a settlement ordered by a judge, court records show.

The suit, filed in 2018, alleged that Candace Steel gave birth in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin after staff and nurses there not only ignored obvious signs she was in labor but punished her for making a ruckus, placing her in an isolation cell “in order to shut her up and muffle her cries and screams of pain.” The suit named Alameda County and the California Forensic Medical Group — which provides medical services at the jail — as defendants.

The settlement, first reported by KTVU, came after Steel’s lawyer filed an unopposed motion for the $250,000 payment. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler signed the order late last month, court records show. The settlement awards $200,000 to Steel and $50,000 to her daughter, including $5,000 that will be awarded on her 18th birthday.

According to the suit, Steel was at the jail in July 2017 after being arrested on suspicion of two unspecified misdemeanors, which she told KTVU were trespassing charges for living at a homeless camp. A CFMG nurse examined her but determined she was not dilated and “only had a stomachache,” the complaint alleges.

“The deputies on duty, based on the CFMG nurse’s statement that plaintiff was complaining and exaggerating her distress, placed plaintiff in an isolation cell as punishment,” the suit says. The suit says she gave birth in the isolation cell, that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck and that Steel had to press on her daughter’s chest to help her breathe.