EVERETT — The first baby ever born inside the Snohomish County Jail was delivered by jail nurses on Wednesday night.
The emergency delivery happened about 11:15 p.m., Snohomish County Corrections spokesman Jim Harms said. The woman gave birth to a boy, and the two were taken by ambulance to Providence Everett Medical Center.
"The medical staff said that all looked well," said David Oster, the jail’s counseling supervisor.
The delivery was a surprise because the woman hadn’t told corrections officers that she was pregnant, Harms said.
The woman, 43, whose name was not released, was serving a one-year sentence for drunken driving. She was housed at the Indian Ridge Corrections Center near Arlington, a minimum-security facility for inmate workers. She was moved to the jail in Everett after she complained of cramps, Oster said. The woman gave birth in a jail cell shortly after nurses discovered that she was pregnant.
"All the staff involved said they were very pleased with how they managed the medical emergency," Harms said.
Pregnant inmates generally aren’t allowed to serve time at Indian Ridge because the main jail has better medical facilities, Oster said. If the jail knows that an inmate is pregnant, she is housed at the main jail, where she can be monitored by medical staff and given prenatal care.
The jail does not require inmates to disclose that they are pregnant, Oster said.
The woman was released to the hospital under a court order that requires her to return once she is medically fit, Harms said.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or
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