by Chuck Sharman

New York’s Onondaga County agreed to pay a former detainee in the County jail $100,000 on March 3, 2026, resolving her claim for denial of medical care during a gruesome 30-hour labor while giving birth to an infant daughter who was then transported to a Syracuse hospital and died. An earlier settlement for an undisclosed amount was reached with private jail healthcare contractor NaphCare, LLC, Advance Media New York reported.

Cheree Byrd, then 35, was released from the Onondaga County Justice Center (OCJC) on August 2, 2022, the day after her baby died. When she was booked into the lockup a month earlier—on a misdemeanor petit larceny charge that Syracuse Police later dropped—she was just three months pregnant. Within a few weeks, she began complaining to jailers that she was in pain and suspected she was in premature labor. They gave her Tylenol and tampons, but nothing else, according to the complaint later filed on her behalf.

On July 29, staffers with NaphCare, the OCJC’s then-healthcare contractor, finally placed her on medical watch, owing to her history of premature labor. But when she reported that her water had broken, guards disbelieved it, chalking it up instead to a delusion caused by her diagnosed mental illness. She remained alone in her cell to suffer through 30 hours of active labor before another guard noticed and called an ambulance. Byrd then gave birth to a daughter, Ayanna, who was taken by emergency responders to a hospital and pronounced dead on August 1. The cause of death was determined to be preterm premature rupture of the membranes.

A review by the state Commission on Correction (COC) released in December 2023 found that NaphCare staffers exhibited bias against Byrd’s mental health disability when they discounted her reports. Their failure to provide her adequate care was blamed for the infant’s death, which was otherwise preventable.

Before that, though, the staffers failed to adhere to policy when they placed Byrd on suicide watch at booking; they also failed to follow up with a mental health evaluation until five days later. A full physical exam and evaluation of Byrd’s medical records didn’t happen until 14 days after booking. In the end, the state Medical Review Board told the COC “that had Byrd been immediately referred to hospital, her infant’s death may have been prevented.” See: In the Matter of the Special Investigation into the Care and Treatment Provided to Cheree Byrd (Infant Girl Ayanna Byrd), an incarcerated individual of the Onondaga Cty. Justice Ctr., N.Y. Comm’n on Corr. (Dec. 20, 2023).

Meanwhile, Byrd’s suit was filed in state Superior Court for Onondaga County by Denise Renee Speed, her mother and personal representative, with the aid of attorneys Evan M. Janush of the Lanier Law Firm, as well as Jasmine Isokpunwu and Jennifer M. Jones of Ellwanger Henderson LLP. Proceeding under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, she accused the County, Sheriff Eugene Conway and his jailers, along with NaphCare and various staffers of deliberate indifference to Byrd’s serious medical need, in violation of her Fourteenth Amendment rights. Plaintiff and the County defendants then proceeded to reach their settlement agreement, with a payout that included costs and fees for Speed’s attorneys. See: Speed v. Conway, N.Y. Super. (Cty. of Onondaga), Case No. 010200/2023.

Ayanna Byrd’s death occurred amid a spate of deaths at the OCJC that drew the scrutiny of state Attorney General Letitia James (D). Her investigators found that NaphCare was using medical personnel in Atlanta to conduct telehealth visits with detainees, in violation of a law requiring medical personnel to hold New York licenses when practicing in the state. As PLN reported, that resulted in an $875,000 fine against NaphCare, which was also banned from doing business in New York for five years. [See: PLN, May 2026, p.28.]  

Additional source: Advance Media New York