Miami Herald (MH) - Friday August 30, 1991
Dexter Filkins; Herald Staff Writer

In court Thursday, her lawyer revealed that the challenge has not been met.

Taylor has yet to see a doctor since she entered jail 34 days ago. Or get help to beat drugs. Or receive the special diet her illness and pregnancy demand.

"All I want to do is see a doctor," said Taylor, sporting a fresh haircut and a yellow maternity dress. "If I weren't in jail I could do that much."

Taylor, 23, and a mother any day now, is being held on $100,000 bond. Normally it would be only $300. The court set it high partly for Taylor's own good -- to keep her off the streets so she could get help.

County Judge Susan Lebow, clearly shocked that it hadn't turned out that way, ordered Taylor sent immediately to Broward General Medical Center for a check-up and sonogram.

Lebow also told the Broward Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, to devise a diet and a schedule of regular doctor visits for Taylor. And Lebow demanded to know why no doctor had visited the troubled woman even as her due date nears.

"I was told the jail had a maternity ward -- and it does not," Lebow said. "I am not going to put her back on the street, but she is now our responsibility."

Taylor had been arrested six times on prostitution charges since testing positive for the HIV-virus early this year. She has racked up 37 prostitution arrests since 1987.

County Judge Kathleen Kearney and later Lebow said they set the high bail to prevent Taylor form passing the virus to her clients. They also said they wanted to help give Taylor's baby the best shot at survival.

Taylor's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, told Lebow that the only medical attention Taylor has received was from a nurse. He said Taylor's condition -- pregnant and an HIV-virus carrier -- demanded a diet different from ordinary jail food. She hasn't gotten it.

"We're not saying there is any malice on the part of the sheriff or the jail," Finkelstein said. "But it's clear that Danielle presents problems they aren't prepared to handle."

The prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Raag Singhal, did not protest Lebow's order sending Taylor to the hospital.

Employees at Prison Health Services, which runs the medical unit at the jail, would not talk about the case or their capabilities. A spokesman for the sheriff's office said Taylor ought to be thankful for receiving any treatment.

"If she hadn't been arrested, she wouldn't be getting any help at all," spokesman Jim Leljedal said. "In the first seven months of her pregnancy, she didn't receive treatment."

Lebow told Taylor, whose baby is due in a few weeks, that she might serve as the catalyst for a new maternity program in the jail.

"You may be the person around which a program develops," she said. "You may be the vanguard."

CAPTION: PHOTO Howard Finkelstein with Danielle Taylor (n); photo: Danielle Taylor (b)

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