A former inmate at the Milwaukee County Jail is seeking $8.5 million dollars in damages after she says jail staff ignored her requests for medical attention as she went into labor.
Shadé Swayzer has filed a notice of claim against the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office in connection with the death of her newborn baby in her jail cell in July, Time reports.
Swayzer’s lawyer, Jason Jankowski, wrote in the notice that when his client informed a corrections officer that her water broke, the officer laughed and ignored her.
On July 14 around 4 a.m., Swayzer’s child was born, but the notice alleges that she did not receive medical attention until 6 a.m.
The child was declared dead later that day.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the sheriff’s office claims Swayzer never told officers she was going into labor.
An autopsy has since been performed on the baby, but the results were not immediately released.
