MiamiDade Corrections clears staff, makes changes after inmates conceived child in highly inconceivable manner
Mar 13, 2025
Miami-Dade jail officials have finished their investigation into how an inmate became pregnant behind bars. 7’s Heather Walker has the exclusive in tonight’s 7 Investigates.
Daisy Link: “It’s a real twist. It is. Everybody says it to me, this is like some Lifetime Movie Network.”
But
it wasn’t a movie. In November, 7 Investigates revealed how Daisy Link got pregnant by fellow Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center inmate Joan Depaz — despite the two never physically meeting.
Daisy Link: “She’s a miracle baby. She’s a blessing.”
Now, 7Investigates has obtained newly released records, including handwritten love letters between Depaz and Link. One even appears to show a list of possible baby names.
Heather Walker: “The big question here is how did this happen?”
Daisy Link: “Through the vent.”
Longer than a full-term pregnancy — that’s how long it took Miami-Dade Corrections to investigate this strange case. Their report backs up what the inmates told us in jailhouse interviews, but it still leaves unanswered questions like: How could this have happened without staff realizing?
Daisy Link: “They should actually thank me. I found a huge breach in their security. I haven’t gotten a ‘thank you’ yet.”
Officials at the jail say they conducted “a thorough review of this incident…” and concluded there was “insufficient evidence to substantiate staff misconduct.”
However, the jail did make changes after the two inmates conceived a child in a highly inconceivable way.
Joan Depaz: “I put the semen in Saran Wrap every day like five times a day for like a month straight.”
Daisy Link: “He would kind of like roll it up almost like a cigarette and he would attach it to the line that we had in the vent, and I would pull it through. From there, I had placed it inside of, it was the, you know, the yeast infection applicators? I had placed it inside of there, and then from there, yeah, I administered it.”
The records reveal a doctor put in place a procedure “to drastically reduce, if not eliminate applicators/tips in circulation” for inmates.
And that’s not the only security change.
Daisy Link: “I know that they rearranged certain levels, where males are not to be on the same level as females, so that way the vents don’t collide.”
That appears to be true. The details of this “action plan” are redacted. But “the objective is to ensure that inmates are not communicating through the vents as well as transporting contraband throughout the building.”
Joan Depaz: “Not gonna lie, this is gonna go down in history.”
Depaz told investigators no correctional staff was involved or aware of the plan.
Joan Depaz: “Over here, I’m like a celebrity.”
Depaz is no longer in county custody.
Judge: “Mr. Depaz, the court will now adjudicate you guilty.”
Last month, the 24-year-old pleaded guilty to murdering a man and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison.
Judge: “Calling the case of Daisy Link.”
Link remains at TGK awaiting trial in a separate murder case. Their daughter — who is now almost 9 months old — is living with Depaz’s mother.
Heather Walker, 7News.
Miami-Dade Corrections declined 7 Investigates’ request for an interview.
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