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SCLC Asks For Inquiry Of Death In Jail

21-Year-Old Pregnant Woman Died In July In Bradford County Jail

POSTED: Friday, November 13, 2009
UPDATED: 4:21 pm EST November 13, 2009

The family and advocates for a 21-year-old pregnant woman who died in July while an inmate in Bradford County are calling for an additional investigation.

"This is a very unfortunate situation for the this lady to pass away for the lack of medical care," said Art Roker, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Florida.

Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith said Roker had not asked him about the case or requested the police report on Tia Ritch's death.

That report showed Ritch had told corrections officers when she was booked into jail on June 28 that she was six weeks pregnant. The on-duty nurse advised the sheriff's office that pregnancy test would be conducted at about eight weeks.

The sheriff's office said Ritch was held in isolation in a medical cell and checked hourly.

Surveillance video shows guards wheeling Ritch away from her cell to a private cell in a different area. The sheriff said they took her away because she was sick and put her in a cell where they could watch and listen to her throughout the night.

She was found unresponsive early the next morning on July 3 when deputies tried to serve breakfast.

Authorities determined Ritch died of a hemorrhage that may have been the result of a tubal pregnancy.

"I just talked to her probably a couple of days before that and she was fine as far as I was concerned, and a couple of days later she was dead," Ritch's mother Laura Hartwell said.

Ritch, who lived in Starke, was being on a child neglect charge.

Roker said he was to meet with Department of Justice about the case.

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