In addition to the many challenges incarcerated pregnant women face, many prisons and jails shackle pregnant prisoners—with handcuffs, leg irons, or both—during transport and, most shockingly, during childbirth, adding undue trauma and difficulty.
An incarcerated pregnant woman faces many obstacles that her fellow inmates may not understand. These challenges include caring for her unborn child and dealing with how her harmful life decisions will affect her family.
To add to this load, in many prisons and jails pregnant prisoners are shackled—with handcuffs, leg irons, or both—during transport and, most shockingly, during childbirth, adding undue trauma and difficulty.
Medical professionals like Dr. Ralph Hale agree that shackling during labor and delivery is not in the best interest of the mother or child. Hale is the executive vice president of the American College Of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He says that restraints make it difficult for doctors to adequately assess the condition of the mother and the fetus, and to provide prompt medical interventions when necessary. Restraints also make the process of labor and delivery more painful, according to Hale.
Statistics show that most incarcerated women are typically first-time, non-violent offenders, usually arrested for drug crimes. Yet, these women are treated as runaway risks, even though the presence of corrections officers in the hospital room is mandated.
In October 2010, the National Women’s Law Center and the Rebecca Project for Human Rights released the “Mothers Behind Bars” report, which explores the shackling of women during childbirth, among other women’s issues. In the report, each state is graded on whether it has adequate policies regarding these women’s issues. Twenty states and the District of Columbia received overall failing grades, and 36 states received failing grades for their failure to comprehensively limit the use of restraints on pregnant women during transportation, labor and delivery, and postpartum recuperation.
Justice Fellowship® (JF), the justice reform arm of Prison Fellowship®, is working tirelessly to build a broad coalition of allies that will fight against these dehumanizing policies. JF seeks restorative justice, which includes treating prisoners with dignity and allowing innocent children to be born in a non-threatening environment.
“The shackling of pregnant women is not just something that affects the woman, but also affects the child about to be born,” says Kristin Turner, JF’s justice reform coordinator. “To impact these future members of our communities in this manner is something that will have negative ramifications for years to come.”
In September 2008, the Federal Bureau of Prisons agreed with JF, declaring it against policy to shackle inmates during labor. This, however, applies only to federal prisons, not state prisons or county jails. In 2007 the Bureau of Justice Statistics stated that, on average, 5 percent of women who enter state prisons are pregnant, and 6 percent of women in jails are pregnant.
Ten years ago, Illinois was the first state to pass legislation banning shackling of women during labor, and there have been no reported problems since the implementation of this legislation.
Since then, nine additional states have joined the fight and now prohibit this practice: California, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia. In addition, six states have introduced new legislation to protect incarcerated women in labor.
To learn more about how Justice Fellowship is fighting for the rights of prisoners, please visit the JF website.