At a time when most mothers-to-be are shopping for infant wear and putting the finishing touches on their new babies’ rooms, Katrina Beatty, pregnant and alone, is in jail.
Beatty, 37, was arrested Dec. 11 on drug charges and has been in the county jail since. Her baby, a boy she’ll name Cyrus Ryver, is due in six weeks.
“We’ve had pregnant women in jail before, but none about to go full term,” said Sheriff Bryan Murphy.
The local jail has accommodated women since it opened in 2004. The older one did not.
Darlene Kitchens, a jail cook, is also trained as an emergency medical technician, if Beatty were to experience problems. Also, paramedics and EMTs are just four blocks away at Iola’s fire station.
No matter what occurs, the baby’s birth is an unanticipated expense for Murphy’s budget, with the possibility that costs may soar.
Beatty has a doctor’s appointment each week and lately sonograms have been added to her visits. The last showed the baby’s lungs were developing well, Beatty was proud to announce.
But, “there’s some fear of the pregnancy becoming high-risk,” Murphy said. “We asked for assistance from DCF (Department for Children and Families), but it was denied because Katrina’s in jail.”
He said Beatty’s lifestyle before her arrest was a concern for the pregnancy.
As the pregnancy has progressed, she has been encouraged to drink more water to give the baby more room “to swim around,” as Beatty called it. “He was pretty cramped there for a while because I wasn’t drinking much water.” And other telltale signs of concern have surfaced at times.
“There have been discussions about letting Katrina out on an OR (own recognizance) bond to save taxpayers money” Murphy said.
“I’m not going to do that,” he said with resolve. “I don’t think it would be in the best interests of the baby.”
He fears prenatal care would dissipate if the county wasn’t standing the cost.
“I feel morally and ethically bound to protect the baby, no matter what it costs,” Murphy said, a new father himself.
“I’d like to get out on probation, or get a furlough when the baby comes,” Beatty said.
Murphy thinks it’s more likely she still will be in jail when the baby is born, in which case corrections officers will accompany her to the hospital and remain nearby until she returns to jail.
