Paula (Season 16)

Paula was Meredith's jail cellmate.

History
Paula met Meredith when they were both jailed at the same time. Paula was awaiting trial for assaulting a police officer. She couldn't afford to bail herself out of jail, so she was forced to stay there and her children were placed in foster care. She told Meredith that what happened was that one night, her childcare fell through and she couldn't find a replacement or another person to work her graveyard shift, so she put her children to bed and went to work. Every break, she ran home to check on them. In the middle of the night, her eight year old son woke up and called 911 when he realized she wasn't there. When Paula got home, she was confronted by the police and says she swatted one a way by instinct, so she was arrested.

When she first went to jail, she was very angry, but then decided to channel her anger into something productive, so she started reading all of Toni Morrison's books and playing a game of gin rummy. She also had a puzzle she was working on in her cell, which Meredith helped with on her last day in jail. After Meredith was released, she wished Paula luck. Not long afterward, Paula was informed that her bail had been paid and she was released, saluting her cell on her way out.

Familial
She has two children, aged six and eight.

Career
She worked two jobs to make ends meet. One of the jobs was at a mini-mart less than a mile from her house.