Texas jails have more than 400 pregnant inmates monthly. The state is studying what happens to them.

Cristiana Gigina

In May 2018, Ruby McPeters was eight months pregnant when she was booked into Hood County jail on a probation violation. Just a month later, the 33-year-old North Texas woman was dead. According to her custodial death report , McPeters was sent back to jail after delivering her baby by C-section at a local hospital. But the jail had to again transport her to the hospital a few days later, after she developed an infection from the procedure. That led to sepsis, according to the report, which was