Three days after Tiffany McElroy was taken to an Alabama jail just north of the Florida state line, she felt her water break.
With a history of preterm labor and in her third trimester, Tiffany pleaded to be taken to a hospital, but the guards ignored her. She was left slipping in and out of consciousness from excruciating pain. Her life and her baby’s life were only saved by other courageous detained women who helped her deliver on the floor.
This week, alongside the Southern Poverty Law Center and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, we filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of her and her infant daughter. The jail, county, sheriff, and more than a dozen jail staff unnecessarily forced Tiffany to endure a dangerous, painful, and terrifying birth experience – and they must be held accountable.
As Tiffany labored for more than 24 hours and cried out for help, the women incarcerated with her banged on walls and tables, begging guards to take her to a hospital, and were met with threats of lockdown, being written up, or being tased.
Still, they comforted and guided her through labor and delivery. And when her baby was finally born, limp and blue, they resuscitated her until the newborn finally cried.
The Houston County Jail officers displayed a heartless disregard for Tiffany’s health and safety. They refused any assistance and left her to labor in unsanitary conditions all day and all night as her screams echoed throughout the bay.
Her treatment isn’t an isolated incident. The jail has a long history of providing inadequate medical care to pregnant and postpartum people. And Alabama continues to lead the nation in jailing women for “endangering” their pregnancies while doing nothing to provide care for pregnant people.
“The county claims to care about ‘unborn life.’ But in the direst circumstances, it was other brave jailed women who provided what the county did not: humanity and actual care for mother and baby.”
– Karen Thompson, Legal Director
Alabama’s mass incarceration of pregnant women, allowing them to face unimaginable cruelty during labor and delivery behind bars to protect ‘fetal life,’ must be stopped. Our lawsuit seeks accountability for this inexcusable inaction. No one should have to endure the torture that Tiffany did.
In solidarity, The Pregnancy Justice Team
SOURCE: Pregnancy Justice. LAWSUIT FILED: Alabama jail staff didn’t help when she went into labor — other women in the jail did. 14 May 2026. info-pregnancyjusticeus.org@shared1.ccsend.com.