In a story that sounds almost unbelievable, two Florida inmates claim to have conceived a child without ever meeting face-to-face. Daisy Link, 29, and Joan Depaz, 23, both incarcerated at Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in December 2023, welcomed a baby girl in June 2024 through what they describe as an unconventional process.
Link, charged with second-degree murder, and Depaz, facing first-degree murder charges, explained how they managed the feat from behind bars. According to Link, the pregnancy resulted from Depaz placing his semen in Saran wrap, passing it through the neighboring AC vents, and Link using a yeast infection applicator to inseminate herself.
“She’s a miracle baby, she’s a blessing,” Link told Miami Fox affiliate WSVN 7, likening the process to the “Virgin Mary.” Despite never meeting Depaz in person, she called the experience “crazy” and said she felt deeply connected to him after hours of conversations through the vents in their isolation cells.
“Being in isolation for so long, you begin to spend hours and hours talking to this person,” Link explained. “It’s almost as if you’re in the same room with them.”
The two inmates developed a relationship over their vent conversations. Depaz expressed his desire to have a child, despite the circumstances.
“‘I always really wanted to have a baby. And I’m not gonna get to do that for a really long time,’” Depaz recalled telling Link. “‘So if I had to choose somebody, you know, it would be you.’ And she was like, ‘Yeah, we could do that.’”
Depaz said he would prepare the semen in Saran wrap multiple times a day, using bedding material to pull it through the vent to Link. After several attempts, the method worked, and Link became pregnant. “I was very excited. I was ecstatic about it,” she said.
The baby girl was born at Jackson Memorial Hospital on June 19, 2024. Although both parents remain incarcerated, they stay connected with their daughter through phone calls and video visits. Depaz’s mother is currently raising the child.
Miami-Dade Corrections is reportedly conducting an internal affairs investigation into the incident.
