What happens if a female prisoner on death row gets pregnant (i.e. from conjugal visit)

What happens if a female prisoner on death row gets pregnant (i.e. from conjugal visit)

Nowadays it is illegal to execute pregnant women - and, with the long time the criminals spend on death row, the problem rarely arises.

However, in the past the problem did arise. The lady in question could “plead her belly” as it were, and was examined by matrons. If she indeed was found to be “quick with child”, the execution was postponed until the baby was born and some months of wet-nursing was allowed.

But the early pregnancies were more difficult. In 1923 Edith Thompson was hanged for murder, and rumors arose that she had aborted while still hanging from the rope. When the next woman were to be hanged (Ruth Ellis), she had to wear protective underwear at the scaffold.

Also in American early years (i.e. 1600-s) there are reports of hanged women bleeding heavily after being hanged, supposedly from an abortion.

If she is sentenced to death while pregnant, she would be placed into a Death Row cell but periodically taken to the prison infirmary for pre-natal care as needed.

Near the time of her delivery, or certainly as soon as she began having contractions, she would be taken to a nearby hospital. She would be kept under guard in the hospital, up to the point of going into the delivery room, and as soon as she is brought out of the recovery room after her delivery.

She might be allowed to hold her baby briefly after the birth, but she would very soon be taken back to prison. The child would either be placed in the care of a family member, or would be put under care in a State facility. The child would (probably quite soon) go into foster care.

The mother would be kept on Death Row through the process of appeals and reviews of her conviction. Around the time that the child graduates from high school (or maybe even when the child graduates from college), he or she would probably be permitted to watch his or her mother’s execution.