PRISON bosses are investigating the tragic death of a newborn baby inside a jail.
The child was just one day old when they died at HMP Foston Hall in Derbyshire.
An inquest into ‘Baby C’ is set to be held to establish how it died at the prison, which also has a Young Offenders’ Institution.
The tot’s gender and mother’s condition has not been disclosed following the death behind bars on October 16, 2023.
It was confirmed by the Prison and Probations Ombudsman after featuring in its latest Independent Investigations Annual Report.
Ombudsman Adrian Usher said: “We are saddened to confirm that the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman are investigating the death of a baby.
“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family.”
The newborn was among 292 deaths inside prisons in 2023/24, according to the report.
A final investigation report will be published by the PPO after the inquest has finished.
Three babies have now died in the English prison system in the last five years following deaths at HMP Bronzefield in 2019 and HMP Styal in 2020.
Aisha Cleary died in her mum Rianna’s cell at Bronzefield in Surrey, the biggest women’s prison in Europe, in September 2019.
Rianna, 18, endured more than 12 hours of labour and had repeatedly pressed her “cell bell” before anyone came to help.
Officers found her covered in blood with her dead infant after biting through the umbilical cord as she had no other way of severing it.
Louise Powell, 31, begged for an ambulance at HMP Styal before giving birth to her stillborn baby girl, Brooke-Leigh, in a toilet.
She didn’t know she was pregnant before going into labour in June 2020.
A PPO report found the duty nurse made “a serious error of judgement” by not visiting Powell after they were contacted three times about her severe pain.
The child was just one day old when they died at HMP Foston Hall in Derbyshire[/caption]
