Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

NPR recently ran a story about this horrific practice. Although this is not new news to many of us, I am glad that this is getting more public attention and public outcry. Hopefully this will lead to the abolition of this barbaric practice altogether:

It's a practice so hidden, many don't realize it exists: the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth.

Across the U.S., there are stories of women going from jails or prisons to hospitals, where they labor and sometimes even deliver while restrained with handcuffs, leg shackles or both.

In recent years, a growing number of states have moved to ban the practice. Ten states now have anti-shackling legislation: California, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia — and as of two weeks ago, Pennsylvania.

There have also been lawsuits in a number of states. On Thursday, a jury in rural Arkansas found that a guard had violated the constitutional rights of a woman by shackling her while she was in labor, though they awarded her just $1. In May, a shackling case was settled in Washington state for $125,000. And in Illinois, there's a class action lawsuit against Cook County and its sheriff, Tom Dart.

The full story can be found here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128563037

and there's an interesting sidebar (by Andrea Hsu) full of information about legislation around the issue:

Ten states now have anti-shackling legislation: California, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia — and as of two weeks ago, Pennsylvania.

Illinois, which passed anti-shackling legislation in 1999, requires that "when a pregnant female prisoner is brought to a hospital from a county jail for the purpose of delivering her baby, no handcuffs, shackles, or restraints of any kind may be used during her transport to a medical facility for the purpose of delivering her baby. Under no circumstances may leg irons or shackles or waist shackles be used on any pregnant female prisoner who is in labor."

In June 2010, the American Medical Association House of Delegates voted to develop model state legislation prohibiting the use of shackles on pregnant women.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has testified that physical restraints have "made the labor and delivery process more difficult than it needs to be; thus overall putting the health and lives of the women and unborn children at risk."