Pubdate: Mon, 31 Oct 2005
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2005 The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact:  http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Lisa Rosetta

PREGNANCY, DRUG ABUSE AND JAIL STIR EMOTIONS

Salt Lake County: The Lockup Wanted To Turn Away A Suspect To Avoid 
Any Legal Risk; A Judge Just Wants What's Best For Baby

Tammaria Gehring is more than eight months pregnant. Until Sept. 22, 
when she was locked up in the Salt Lake County Jail, the 30-year-old 
mother of two was living in a motel room and using methamphetamine.

Were it not for a judge who personally lobbied Salt Lake County 
Sheriff Aaron Kennard to book her - against Kennard's strict policy 
not to book pregnant women - Gehring would still be out, possibly 
doing drugs, despite a felony drug charge and violations of her 
pre-sentencing release.

Those in the criminal justice system who handle cases such as this 
say there is little they can do to stop pregnant women from using 
drugs and risking the health of the unborn children.

Third District Judge Terry Christiansen said he cannot court order 
inpatient drug treatment programs for such women until they have been 
sentenced. Even when they test positive for drugs, a violation the 
terms of their pre-sentencing release, the judge can't get them 
jailed because the sheriff will turn them away.

While jails are revolving doors for drug addicts, the Salt Lake 
County jail refused to let Gehring in the door on more than one 
occasion when it found out she was pregnant and at high risk for complications.

Kennard said pregnant women who abuse drugs are a legal and financial 
liability to the jail.

"She was not [initially] admitted because of medical reasons," 
Kennard said. "Being a high-risk pregnancy, this is not something the 
jail is prepared to handle."

The sheriff said a high-risk pregnancy that ends badly could 
"bankrupt" the county.

"It's not my responsibility to medically take care of everyone."

But the judge did not want Gehring to walk. Two lives were at stake.

"Every time I get a situation where a woman is pregnant and she is 
using drugs I do everything I possibly can so that baby is 
protected," Christiansen said. "I understand the sheriff has some 
liability issues, but my concern is for the child."

So Christiansen called the sheriff - something he has done in a 
handful of cases - and asked Kennard to make an exception. The sheriff obliged.

"It's a stop-gap measure," Kennard said. "What probably is going to 
happen is the woman is going to have her baby in my jail and the 
county residents are going to pay for all of this. I'm not going to 
stand in the way of the health of that woman or that baby."

Right now, the jail's acute medical center is not open and not 
funded, Kennard said. Those people who have high-risk medical 
conditions, or are a danger to themselves or others, are turned away 
at the door and taken by the arresting agency to a hospital.

Christine Wilfahrt, Gehring's mother, said her daughter started using 
drugs at age 16. Five months into her second pregnancy, Gehring 
didn't know she was carrying a baby until she went to a doctor for a 
kidney infection. She also tested positive for meth.

The baby boy, now 13 months old, was adopted by Gehring's brother.

Gehring's life spun out of control when her live-in boyfriend 
introduced her to meth, Wilfahrt said. She lost her job and house and 
began sleeping at motels. She told her 12-year-old son she was seeing ghosts.

When Wilfahrt discovered her daughter was pregnant again, she worked 
frantically to find her help.

"I can't be the only one in the Salt Lake Valley who has been trying 
and trying and trying to stop this from occurring on a continual 
basis," she said.

In Utah, cases such as Gehring's are becoming more common. In 2003, 
about 6,800 women were admitted to public drug treatment programs in 
the state. Of those, 300 were pregnant at the time, said Patrick 
Fleming, director of Salt Lake County's Division of Substance Abuse Services.

Pregnant users are high priority for public treatment programs, he 
said. Despite long waiting lists, Gehring could be admitted today. 
The problem: She is free to walk right out the door.

And many do.

On a Friday in mid-October, Ed Snoddy, a substance abuse counselor 
for the Volunteers of America, was called to a Salt Lake City home to 
aid police with a woman high on heroin and seven-and-a-half months pregnant.

The woman has spent time living on the streets and Snoddy, a trusted 
friend of many of the city's homeless, knows her well. He has tried 
persuading her to seek treatment by warning her of the harm she is 
doing to her baby, but to no avail.

Before he could get her into treatment, she fled. Even if she had 
checked into the Volunteers program, Snoddy doubts she would have stayed.

The woman can be charged with child endangerment at birth, but until 
then, there is little that can be done legally. "If we wait until the 
baby is born, the damage is done," Snoddy said.

Fleming said addressing the problem is a prickly public policy issue.

"We as a society have criminalized substance abuse, so what winds up 
happening is it has become a problem we've tried to deal with through 
the courts, through the jail, through the public treatment system."

Pregnant women who need help often fail to seek it because they fear 
they will be arrested, or their children taken away.

"Until we destigmatize and decriminalize this and make it a health 
issue, this is going to continue going on," he said.

In the meantime, Wilfahrt hopes the judge keeps her daughter behind 
bars - and out of methamphetamine's reach.

"She is not only hurting herself, she's hurting a life. The life of 
that baby should override her personal rights," Wilfahrt said. "I 
hope to God he brings that baby out right."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman