Pregnant woman sues Washington Co. jail
Suit alleges ‘cruel’ treatment while woman was incarcerated
A Canonsburg woman is suing the Washington County jail and its healthcare contractor claiming she was denied proper medical care when she was incarcerated while pregnant two years ago, and was later shackled to a hospital bed while going through labor.
Attorneys for Nicole Lane filed the federal lawsuit in Pittsburgh on Wednesday accusing the Washington County Correctional Facility, healthcare provider PrimeCare and several jail workers and county sheriff’s deputies of alleged neglect that nearly caused her to lose the baby and her life.
“What happened to me while incarcerated at WCCF was one of the worst experiences of my life,” Lane said in a written statement provided by her attorneys. “I thought either my baby or I was going to die alone on the floor of a jail cell.”
The lawsuit states she was in her third trimester when she was incarcerated beginning on Aug. 28, 2024, and two days later she began suffering headaches, pain, blurred vision, vomiting and elevated blood pressure due to preeclampsia, which can be fatal. Lane pressed an emergency button for help and a PrimeCare nurse came to her cell about 30 minutes later and provided only a sports energy drink and over-the-counter pain medication, according to the lawsuit.
“During this time, Ms. Lane was terrified that she was going to give birth alone in her jail cell,” the lawsuit states. “She felt certain that she and/or her baby were going to die.”
Later that day, she was transported to UPMC Magee Women’s hospital in Pittsburgh, where sheriff’s deputies shackled her to the bed while she was undergoing five hours of unmedicated labor, the lawsuit claims. Medical staff at the hospital eventually demanded deputies remove the shackles before she gave birth, which they did, but they were placed back on her immediately after and kept on over the next five days during her post-partum recovery and while being treated for preeclampsia, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also states she was not given proper prenatal or postpartum care at the jail.
Jackie Perlow, one of the lawyers for Lane and a supervising attorney for the Philadelphia-based Women’s Law Project, said the defendants “violated her rights, endangered her life, and caused her significant and lasting distress and harm.”
“Our client suffered cruel, unusual and inhumane abuse during her pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery,” Perlow said.
Online court records show Lane was arrested for misdemeanor drug possession and held at the jail on $15,000 cash bond. She pleaded guilty in Washington County Court of Common Pleas in January 2025 and was sentenced by President Judge Valarie Costanzo to serve 12 months on probation, along with one year in jail for a separate drug charge from 2021, according to court documents. She was incarcerated until March 21, 2025.
The lawsuit is seeking damages for allegedly depriving Lane of her Eighth and 14th amendment rights, along with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, Pennsylvania’s Healthy Birth for Incarcerated Women Act and Pennsylvania tort law. According to the lawsuit, the state’s Healthy Birth for Incarcerated Women Act restricts the use of restraints on pregnant women and has been in effect since 2010, and it was expanded in 2023.
“Jails in Pennsylvania cannot continue to ignore laws that protect incarcerated people simply because they disagree with them. They have a duty to provide incarcerated individuals with dignity and humane treatment, something Washington County denied Ms. Lane at every turn,” says Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, who is co-counsel for Lane and deputy director for the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project. “No person should be shackled while their life is in danger.”
Washington County solicitor Gary Sweat said Thursday that he was unaware of the lawsuit and could not comment. Representatives with Harrisburg-based PrimeCare Inc. could not be reached for comment Friday.