A month after giving birth, prison inmate dies of coronavirus at Fort Worth hospital
About a month after she delivered a baby by cesarean section, a 30-year-old inmate at one of Fort Worth’s federal medical prisons died Tuesday at a hospital of the novel coronavirus, authorities said.
Andrea Circle Bear’s child was born on April 1, three days before it was clear that the Federal Medical Center Carswell inmate was positive for COVID-19, the federal Bureau of Prisons said.
Circle Bear had been in custody at Carswell since March 20, when she arrived from the city jail in Winner, South Dakota. Chief U.S. District Judge Judge Roberto Lange of the District of South Dakota sentenced her on Jan. 14 to 26 months for maintaining a drug involved premises. Circle Bear was also sentenced to three years of supervised release.
She admitted maintaining a residence in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, from which she sold methamphetamine, according to a factual basis statement filed in the case.
Circle Bear was placed on quarantine status at Carswell when she arrived, the prisons bureau said.
Circle Bear had a pre-existing medical condition that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists as a risk factor for developing more severe COVID-19 symptoms, the prisons bureau said.
Circle Bear was evaluated on March 28 by Carswell health staff and taken to a hospital because of concerns about her pregnancy, the prisons bureau said. After an evaluation, she was discharged the same day and returned to Carswell.
On March 31, Circle Bear had a fever, dry cough and other symptoms and was seen by Carswell health staff. She was taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation and placed on a ventilator.
Carswell is the United States’ only federal medical prison with a female-only population. About 1,600 women are incarcerated there.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 8:36 PM.
