Southerland v. Thigpen

Diane Southerland (plaintiff) was pregnant when she was sentenced to five years in a Mississippi prison for the nonviolent offense of embezzling $388.21. Southerland gave birth to a son while incarcerated. Two days later, Southerland was scheduled to be returned to prison and separated from her son. Southerland filed a complaint against Morris Thigpen (defendant), director of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with a federal district court, seeking to be allowed to keep her son with her in order to breastfeed him. Prison officials agreed to let Southerland stay in the hospital with her son for an additional two days until the district court’s hearing on Southerland’s request for a preliminary injunction. At the hearing, Southerland presented evidence that breastfeeding was medically and psychologically beneficial for infants generally. Southerland also presented evidence that, due to family history, her son was particularly at risk of developing allergies or diabetes and that breastfeeding him would lower these risks. Thigpen presented evidence that allowing infants into the prison system would create safety and financial issues and be highly disruptive. The district court found that depriving Southerland’s son of breastfeeding would not endanger his life. The district court held that Southerland was unlikely to show that she had a constitutional or other legal right to breastfeed her son while incarcerated and that, overall, granting the injunction would harm the prison system more than denying the injunction would harm Southerland and her son. Accordingly, the district court denied Southerland’s request for an order requiring the prison to keep her with her son. Southerland appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.