I am reaching out regarding breastfeeding/pumping rights in jail. It may be closer to my son’s rights to obtain the best possible nutrition meant for him, actually. I am trying to make sure my son is able to receive my breastmilk while I am behind bars. 

A bit of my background story might be a help. I made a very awful decision to drive after drinking one night on a January evening in 2017. It was a very tragic event; which caused me to receive jail time. I found out I was pregnant during this very crazy time in my life. I was to serve 90 days right away while pregnant, be released on Jan 16th for the birth and then go back to court to discuss the following 90 days. Since then I have been trying my best to live a ‘normal’ life with working and keeping busy planning for my child seeing how I was in my third trimester. I gave birth to my son March 17, 2018 he was a St. Patrick’s day baby and we couldn’t be more excited. It finally seemed the past was behind me for the most part. I really felt like I was meant to still be here in this world to take care of my son. I never considered breastfeeding as a choice I would say I just knew I was going to breastfeed my child and that was it, period.   

 Fast forward to now 2019. My son is almost ten months old but will be close to one when I need to return to serve my following 90 days in jail. My son has only ever had breastmilk, not one single drop of formula and that is something I am very proud of. I had to return to work but that wasn’t going to stop our breastfeeding journey! I continue to pump at work so my son can have breastmilk in his two bottles a day while I am away, the rest of the time he nurses on demand.

I have reached out to the Coles County Jail in Illinois to see about the rules and regulations on being able to pump while I am an inmate. I was told I would be provided a pump they already have there to be able to pump. I was ecstatic! Then my world came crashing down when I was told yes, I would be able to pump but they would dump my milk. I already had a plan for family to come pick up the milk daily, order extra storage milk bags, and everything needed. This means my child would not be able to receive the nutrition that my body is making specifically for him. I couldn’t believe that they would just throw out the best viable nutrition possible for my child. Is this correct? Please tell me this isn’t legal. Does my child not have the right to receive my breast milk while I am away? At this point my son will not only be losing his mom, the one that puts him to bed, wakes up with him through the night, takes care of him every single day meeting all his needs, but he will also have his breastmilk taken from him. We worked very hard on our breastfeeding journey. We planned on breastfeeding until the age of two since that is the age recommendation from the World Health Organization.

Please do not let my child suffer and be neglected from getting the most valuable nutrition that is made specifically for him for my choices that I made in the past before I was pregnant. I am begging for my child to be able to receive my breast milk while I am away.

Any help I can get right now would be very appreciated.

Thank you all so much for your time and consideration

Shelby Espe

If you have information on Illinois laws, regulations, anything that could help me out in the situation please send them to me! shelbye2499@gmail.com