Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony has fired a Department of Detention colonel and lieutenant colonel after an inmate gave birth in jail last month.
Tony announced the terminations of Colonel Gary Palmer and Lieutenant Colonel Angela Neely Thursday for "command level failures," the department said in a news release.
The firings follow an administrative review of a late September incident in which a female inmate in the infirmary at the North Broward bureau gave birth to a child.
The release said an investigation revealed that medical staff attended to the inmate when she delivered the child and that the mother and child were transported to a nearby hospital, but the Broward Public Defender's Office told the Sun Sentinel the woman was forced to give birth in her cell.
"I conducted a review of the matter and determined that command level failures occurred by Colonel Palmer and Lieutenant Colonel Neely in this case," Tony said in a statement. "They grossly failed this agency and this inmate."
At a news conference Friday, Tony thanked the public defender's office for raising concerns.
"I can tell you I'm highly disgusted at the allegations we're looking at right now," Tony said.
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Tony said an internal affairs investigation has been initiated to determine the actions of detention deputies, as well as medical staff of Wellpath, the healthcare provider for the jails, during the incident.
