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| Child Freed from Trunk at Pa. Prison |
| By Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Published: 08/05/2003 |
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A young girl was locked in the steaming trunk of the car in the parking lot of the prison west of Harrisburg for at least 40 minutes over the weekend, but emerged safely. She could have died, officials said, if the prison psychologist stopping for a brief errand Saturday had not parked alongside the car by chance. The psychologist, who insisted yesterday that her identity not be released, said the 3-year-old was crying for her mother. The child's mother, Tammy Denise Swittenburg-Edwards, 32, has been charged with endangering the life of her child. The child was taken into protective custody. Officials at the Smithfield Correctional Institution about 100 miles west of the state capital said Swittenburg-Edwards locked the child in the trunk while she visited an inmate Saturday afternoon. 'We measured the temperature at 89 degrees,' said Lisa Hollibaugh, assistant to the superintendent at Smithfield. Hollibaugh said the prison psychologist arrived in the parking lot just after 2 p.m. and heard the child weeping. She said the psychologist immediately notified the prison control center, which summoned rescue equipment and ambulances. Hollibaugh said the prison security force rushed to the car and tried to get the trunk open. Meanwhile, Hollibaugh said, others were tracing the license plate number. Because Swittenburg-Edwards had to register the plate to get into the visiting room, she was quickly found inside, talking to an inmate believed to be her husband. Hollibaugh said rescuers got the car keys from her and raced to release the child, who was then treated by emergency personnel. The child was given water but did not have to be resuscitated, Hollibaugh said. Prison officials said Swittenburg-Edwards had appeared at the prison earlier in the day with the child, trying to be admitted. The child was not on the inmate's visiting list, Hollibaugh said, so both were denied entrance. Swittenburg-Edwards came back 90 minutes later without the child and was allowed in. 'Some are criticizing and saying we should have asked her where the child went, but this is a busy visiting room with 85 or 90 people on a Saturday,' Hollibaugh said. 'We didn't know what had happened.' She said Swittenburg-Edwards stood by while rescuers freed her daughter and then tried to take the girl and leave. 'She said, 'I think we'll just go now,' ' Hollibaugh said. 'We said, 'We don't think so.' She was taken back into the correctional institution.' Swittenburg-Edwards was charged with criminal attempted aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, and recklessly endangering another person. |
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