11/22/2025
Deputies reported hearing screaming and notified an on-call nurse but did not report a medical emergency, jail records show. Hours later, a nurse and deputy found Kelsey Love wedged inside her torn sleeping mat, blood smeared across the floor.
Love had given birth, scooped mucus from the baby’s mouth, tied the umbilical cord with a used condom she found under a bench, bit the cord off, then crawled into the mat to keep him warm.
The boy, whom she named Xayden, had drugs in his system but was otherwise healthy. Her father and stepmother cared for him until she was stable.
Love said she received a $200,000 settlement from Franklin County, which denied allegations in court filings. The jail has since changed its medical contractor, and adopted a new policy requiring that the contractor have a protocol for the care of pregnant inmates.
Pregnant women who are jailed, often for petty crimes, are miscarrying or giving birth in excruciating pain and into cell toilets or onto filthy jail floors, according to an investigation from Bloomberg Law and NBC News.
Read more women's stories: nbcnews.app.link/O8vMsZUZrYb
