NORWICH – The Chenango County Correctional Facility is likely to surpass its medical budget this year, a rare occurrence that authorities attribute to a recent emergency involving a pregnant female inmate going into early unexpected labor and her twin newborns being airlifted to a special care unit in Syracuse.

Chenango County Sheriff Earnest Cutting advised the standing Safety and Rules and Finance committees this month of the incident that occurred over Memorial Day weekend. The inmate - who was remanded for violating an order of probation related to substance abuse - was approximately 30 weeks pregnant when she was given a brief sentence by Chenango County Judge Frank B. Revoir Jr. Combined stress of pregnancy, substance abuse and jail time, is conceivably the cause of her going into unexpected early labor, Cutting explained.

When it was clear the inmate was going into labor, correctional staff attempted to contact Judge Revoir or Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dowd, the only two people authorized to sign an order of release from custody which would have omitted any accruing medical expenses from being born by the county. Being the Memorial Day weekend, however, both Revoir and Dowd were out of town and unable to be reached.