Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Lawsuits continue to pile up against the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility and Michigan's Department of Corrections. The latest filed in federal court involves bodycam recordings from inside a hospital delivery room while an inmate was giving birth.

"It's not just the inmate, Ms. Natalie Forrest, the plaintiff in this case, but also her son. Her son was also subject to recording and observation of his naked body, and they have no lawful justification for that," said Flood Law Attorney Kyle Hesson.

"That inmate, she may have been subject to confinement, but her son was not. This case is just one of many cases that we have about the filming of live births, so this is just the start."

Hesson calls it a violation of Michigan's voyeurism law.

"Though they (prisoners) may have a diminished expectation of privacy, diminished rights, they still hold the same basic human dignity rights that we hold outside of prison," he said.

"Standing at the foot of a bed, filming an individual and their naked unclad body, with their breasts exposed, having a recorder on and subjecting them to that type of humiliation and degradation, is a complete violation of all human rights."

The lawsuit names five officers and the prison warden, plus Michigan Corrections Director Heidi Washington, and deputy director.

Hesson says advocates had called on prison officials to stop the practice before his client gave birth.

"(Prison officials) responded to those emails saying either the body cameras were not recording, or provided some other justification for it. However, after Ms. Forrest gave birth, they changed those policies to where recording during live birth and where inmates have this expectation of privacy, the recorders have to be shut off," he said.

"So, they had notice prior, and they only acted after the fact."

The lawsuit goes on to allege a corrections officer told Forrest's mother, who is also a plaintiff, that two years would be added to her sentence if she took a picture of her newborn grandson in the hospital.

The family is seeking a jury trial along with compensatory and punitive damages.

Michigan corrections officials have yet to respond.

The lawsuit is linked below.