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Mother, family talk after baby dies after delivery in Clayton Co. Jail

JONESBORO, Ga. — The mother whose baby died after she delivered it in her cell is out of jail and telling her side of the story.

Deshawn Balka, 25, said she didn't want to comment just two days after she gave birth to a baby boy in the Clayton County Jail.

But as her mother and father escorted her out, her mother said her daughter is torn up over the baby's death and how she was treated by jail staff.

"She's not doing good at all," Regina Balka said.

Regina Balka told Channel 2's Tom Jones she's also in pain.

"It hurts. My first grandchild. It hurts," she said.

Clayton County Sheriff Kem Kimbrough said the baby died at the hospital after an inmate gave birth in a cell.

He said jail staff arrived quickly after getting word about the unexpected birth.

But Deshawn Balka tells a different story, giving Jones the statement she gave jail authorities about what happened.

She said all week long she asked to be placed in the infirmary or see a doctor but she said that didn't happen.

She said she wasn't feeling well and began cramping in her cell.

Deshawn Balka said she went to the bathroom and she said that's when she had her baby in the toilet, thinking she was having a bowel movement.

She also said it took 10 to 15 minutes for help to arrive.

Deshawn Balka's father wasn't happy to hear how his daughter described the events leading to the death of his grandson.

"Something definitely went wrong," Harold Balka said.

Kimbrough said Deshawn Balka did receive medical attention before the birth.

"My records show that she saw a physician two days before this incident," he said.

The sheriff said the five-months pregnant Balka was in the infirmary but was well enough to go back to general population.

The Balkas said this ordeal has made their daughter an emotional wreck.

"She's just shut down. She's just shut down emotionally," Regina Balka said.

Deshawn Balka was in jail on a probation violation.

She was originally arrested on a marijuana possession charge last year.

She's out of jail because she went to court Monday morning and was released back to probation.
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