The protest outside Camden Council’s offices in King’s Cross on Wednesday

PROTESTERS lined up outside Camden Council’s headquarters on Wednesday after a coroner’s inquest heard how social services had “let down” a teenager whose newborn baby died when she gave birth alone in a prison cell.

Rianna Cleary, a vulnerable pregnant teenager, was sent to HMP Bronzefield Prison in Surrey in 2019 where she lost her full-term baby, called Aisha.

In response to the details revealed at the coroner’s inquest into Aisha’s death, women’s rights campaigners from Legal Action for Women and the All African Women’s Group picketed both the family courts service in Holborn and the council’s offices in King’s Cross.

A young black woman who had grown up in care, Ms Cleary wareferred to Camden Council’s children’s services in 2018 because she was homeless. According to Surrey coroner Richard Travers, Ms Cleary was “an extremely vulnerable 17-year-old”.

She was assigned a social worker by Camden and placed in Cecil House, a hostel for young care leavers aged between 16 and 25.

The inquest heard Ms Cleary had been “exploited and groomed” by the “criminal world” and went missing “intermittently” from Cecil House.

The following year, Ms Cleary was arrested and taken into police custody, where a test showed that she was pregnant. In her evidence to the coroner, Ms Cleary said she felt “overwhelmed” by the way Cecil House workers responded to her pregnancy.

This week’s protest in King’s Cross

“I felt like they were already making decisions about me and what would happen to my baby, and I didn’t have the chance to think about what I wanted,” she said.

In August later that year, she pleaded guilty to a robbery charge. She was remanded in HMP Bronzefield, where she was to await sentencing.

While in prison, Ms Cleary received a letter from Camden Children’s Services that said social workers were “extremely worried about the well-being of your unborn child”, adding: “We will be going to court once your baby is born to try to ensure your child is safe. This could mean that your child will be removed from your care.”

Ms Cleary told the coroner she “found these letters extremely intimidating and upsetting”, adding: “When I was in prison, I still felt like other people were making decisions for me and I was not involved…I felt like they were unfairly judging me and not giving me a chance before [my baby] was even born.”

In September, Ms Cleary went into labour in her cell. She told the inquest she woke in “real, serious pain” and used the intercom to ask for a nurse or an ambulance. A prison officer answered, but no help came.

She used the intercom a second time, but no one answered. She told the inquest that “by this time there was blood on the bed, my hands, and where I was holding the wall”.

Although an officer checked Ms Cleary’s cell later that evening, Ms Cleary was in too much pain to call for help.

“I couldn’t even scream or call out, it was just constant pain,” she told the court. She passed out in the middle of the night and woke up the following morning to find Aisha, her child, in the bed.

“She didn’t seem to be breathing,” Ms Cleary told the inquest. “I didn’t know what to do but I felt that I should cut the [umbilical] cord… I bit the cord and tied it.” Camden is not responsible for the actions taken by prison officers.

In his report, the coroner Mr Travers noted “there was a recognition by Camden that, overall, Rianna Cleary had been let down by social services”, and criticised “systemic failings” within HMP Bronzefield and other organisations that meant Ms Cleary did not receive the care she required.

At the picket, protesters chanted: “Camden Council, we are watching you.”

Bronzefield Prison

Campaigner Chrissie Amiss said the treatment of Ms Cleary had been “horrendous”, adding: “It is one of the examples of the many injustices that are happening behind closed doors in this country.”

And campaigner Nina Lopez told the New Journal: “Camden [Social Services] is considered the gold standard among local authorities… if that’s what they’re doing, imagine what the others are like. The whole thing has to change.”

The group argues pregnant women should not be sent to prison, and local authorities should do their best to support mothers instead of taking children away. Campaigner Anne Hall, whose disabled son died four years ago after spending time in prison, said vulnerable people regularly do not receive the care they require while behind bars.

A spokesperson for HMP Bronzefield has said: “We are truly sorry that Ms Cleary gave birth alone in her cell and continue to extend our sincere condolences for the sad and tragic death of Aisha. In the four years that have passed, our priority has been to implement effective and positive changes in the prison.

“We will now review these in light of the coroner’s conclusions, as we continue to improve support for pregnant women in our care.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Camden Council said: “This was a tragic case. We are desperately sad that a mother lost her child in these circumstances. Our deepest sympathies are with her. We are committed to providing the best possible support to young people in our care by addressing all the learning that has been identified.”