WA state bill would limit shackling of women giving birth in prison.

[madfloridian]

Other states are passing similar bills. I always wondered about this. How in the world could anyone think a women in the middle of childbirth is going to try to escape? It boggles the mind.

Things have gotten bad enough here that even the BBC is covering it....article below. But first from RH Reality Check:

Washington State Bill Would Limit Shackling of Pregnant Women

A bill introduced this week in the Washington Legislature would restrict the authority of corrections employees to shackle pregnant women or youth during labor and childbirth.

If enacted, it would make Washington the seventh state to adopt such a law, along with Illinois, California, Vermont, New Mexico, Texas, and New York. The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service, which has responsibility to transport people in federal prison, also have policies to restrict the use of shackles on pregnant women.

In October 2009, a federal court of appeal held such shackling to be unconstitutional, in a case brought by a woman who endured painful shackling that had long-term health consequences when she was in prison in Arkansas.

Although it is perhaps surprising that the Washington State Legislature is in session on Monday, January 18, which is observed as the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in much of the country, it is fitting that the Legislature will be holding a hearing on this important human rights issue.

Here is an article from the BBC earlier in January.

The US women shackled during childbirth

Across the USA, women prisoners have been chained while giving birth to prevent them from escaping, but some states are abandoning the practice in all but exceptional circumstances, as Laura Trevelyan explains.

Tina Torres shows me the scars on her ankles, which just will not disappear. She has tried all manner of creams but the marks from the leg-irons she wore while she was in labour with her daughter Adora are there for life.

Tina was in a Philadelphia jail waiting to be tried when she went into labour and was taken to hospital under armed guard.

Her arms were crossed and her wrists were chained with a lock box. Her ankles were shackled together with leg-irons. Only when she had an emergency caesarean section did the chains come off. They were replaced immediately after the operation, to prevent her from escaping.

I am surprised that only seven states have made laws about the shackling.

When a woman is in labor, trying to run away is impossible and the furthest thing from her mind.

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[depakid]

2. America's obsession with punishment rarely fails to impress

[Bill McBlueState]

3. "I am surprised that only seven states have made laws about the shackling."

I'm not. I bet you 75% of Americans would say, "If she didn't want to be shackled during labor, she shouldn't have broken the law," or some other black-hearted BS.

[depakid]

4. This is precisely why America so easily became a nation of torturers

It was already in the hearts of a majority of the populace.

[Nikki Stone1]

9. I think you're right about the psychology here

:(

[ThomCat]

12. If anyone thinks that it is reasonable to shackle a woman in labor

then I think you are right about them being so easily willing to enable other forms of torture.

There is no justification for shackling women in labor except for vicious malice.

[defendandprotect]

18. Liberals reformed the prisons in the 1930's/? Wasn't Alger Hiss part of that???

That was another reason why he was so hated by the right wing fascists --

Was just reading a new book by civil rights -- 1960's leaders --

Casey Hayden -- wife of Tom Haden . . . "direct line from UHAC to COINTELPRO to HOMELAND

SECURITY" . . . !!!



And with the rise of the right wing fascists again they reinstated Capital punishment --

extended it to youth and to mentally retarded -- !!! --

and put what I would call systems of torture back into our prisons.

Shackling and limiting showers and recreation -- and even more so extreme isolation which

has been called torture by ..... was it the Stockholm studies/????


"Beware of those with a strong urge to punish" --

The rise of the right -- which can only be accomplished by political violence, coups,

assassinations and stolen elections -- brings with it abuse of women and children -

sexual enslavement -- wars and violence of every kind.

[winyanstaz]

24. thank you for saying this so well...

Truth is...we are a mess here at home and have NO damned business telling other nations how to live.

[defendandprotect]

25. "We have NO damned business telling other nations how to live" ... +1000% ...

[RC]

14. Many, way too many right here in DU

Some threads read like they are from freeper central.

[defendandprotect]

19. They won't "get it" until they are directly harmed .....

by right wing policies --

Possibly when their own children are harmed ---

Jane Harmon comes to mind in that she was against health care reform until

her son was laid off from his job and had no insurance!

[hvn_nbr_2]

27. I am surprised that any states have such laws or have a need for such laws.

The whole idea is so savage and barbarian that it's hard to imagine anyone even thinking of doing that in a sane or civilized society. What? Oh. (Emily Latilla moment) Never mind.

[truedelphi]

31. And I found it shocking that the woman in the article

(Very last paragraph of what is posted in OP) was not even yet judged to be guilty - she was waiting for her trial!?!

That could be any pregnant woman, given the absolutely rabid police on patrol these days. (When you watch YouTubes of Police merrily tasering someone for failing to get out of their car in a "timely" manner, and what if they are driving funny because they are in labor or whatever?

[Warpy]

5. Well, you know men

They have to convince themselves it's no worse than taking a shit so they don't feel quite so bad about putting us through it.

In addition, there's that one-size-fits-nobody bureaucratic mindset that says all prisoners must be shackled in the hospital, something that's totally inappropriate in quite a few situations. It's horrible that such people are so utterly without brains that laws have to be passed to force them to do the right thing instead of acting by some damn book.

[ThomCat]

13. You are right. People should have to think about the consequences

of their actions before policies like Shackling become policies to begin with.

Shackling pregnant women should have been illegal to begin with under laws preventing cruel and unusual treatment. The fact that it wasn't already illegal means that the men reviewing these situations don't consider anything that happens to women either cruel or unusual. That is a terribly sad statement about our society and our legal establishment.

:(

[defendandprotect]

20. +1000%

:)

[LeftyMom]

6. A few generations ago, most women in the US gave birth in restraints.

Back in the twilight sleep era, binding women to the bed )with lamb's wool so there wouldn't be any bruising) was normal. The drugs made women loopy and otherwise they would struggle against the staff and try to escape because they didn't know what was going on.

[madfloridian]

7. I gave birth in that era, I was not shackled or constrained.

[LeftyMom]

8. Then you were an unusually lucky case. nt

[Crunchy Frog]

11. My mother wasn't either, but I have talked to women who were,

even though they had not had any drugs. It was standard protocol in many places, though I'm sure there were exceptions.

[defendandprotect]

21. Male medicine . . . and they continue to fight midwifery . . .

[winyanstaz]

37. lambs wool is not iron leg shackles...which usually have

either chain links or an iron bar so the legs cannot move apart.
Think about that.

[Crunchy Frog]

10. A few decades ago it was routine for all women to be shackled in childbirth.

If you look at pictures of old delivery tables, you will see that they have leather handcuffs attached to them.

[madfloridian]

15. Then I guess the prisons might as well do it then.

If it was okay decades ago, then it must not be too bad.

:shrug:

[Crunchy Frog]

30. It was shit then and it's shit now.

American medicine has always had a heavily authoritarian attitude towards pregnant women. How about this recent story about a pregnant woman who was held as a prisoner in a hospital by court order? http://abcnews.go.com/Health/florida-court-orders-pregnant-woman-bed-rest-medical/story?id=9561460

Florida of course.

[Flaneur]

16. Maybe our resident prison guards can enlighten us as to why this is necessary.

[defendandprotect]

22. FEAR FEAR FEAR which is why even the simplest tools which were

suggested to restrain suspects who might be deranged, under influence of drugs,

or armed -- whatever -- were turned into murderous weapons!

TASERS, for one --

The basic idea was one to protect the suspect and the police --

As usual, went off the deep end of paranoia --

[defendandprotect]

17. This is cruel and abusive treatment of prisoners . . . which debases our system of Justice and all

of us --

[winyanstaz]

23. I have written several posts in the past trying to make people aware...

There was that nasty sheriff down south that shackled a mexican woman during birth...for the "crime" of bein a possible illegal.
That bastard needs to be fired but for the life of me I cant think of his name right now..I think it is Joe something or other.
He is famious for being a hard-ass to prisoners.

[madfloridian]

28. This one?

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/81957

[winyanstaz]

33. Yes..thats the scum!!!

He shackled a young mom while giving birth .....which is torture to say the least.
I don't know what ever happened to her or her baby. Sometimes they get separated and never can find their children when families are picked up and shipped around by our uncaring immigration people.
They might have taken the baby because it would have been a legal American..and shipped the mom home.

[PSzymeczek]

49. Arpaio.

What an ass. Picks up anyone who's brown, whether they're here legally or not.

[GinaMaria]

26. 'bout time. n/t

[midnight]

29. Why do I find my breath being taken away with the fact that our country

shackles women in labor? No wonder Bush will never see a court room....

[Vidar]

32. Good for Washington.

[winyanstaz]

34. Maybe they will also end locking little girls up in dark cells for 28 days and nights ....

and beating them bloody with a wooden board until they pass out...like they did in Sheridan Wyoming Girl's school in the late 60s.

[proudohioan]

35. The ONLY thing I was thinking about running away from...

was THE LABOR PAIN ITSELF!!! For God's sake, I wasn't even AWARE that such barbaric practices were even taking place!

[nolabear]

36. I once volunteered in a children's prison. One of the saddest things I've ever seen

came in the form of a girl of about sixteen, who was about to give birth. She knew that as soon as her baby was born it would be taken from her and raised by her parents until she had finished her sentence. At the same time, the prison admin had decided that the swallows that were nesting in the eaves of the building the girls were in needed to be discouraged, so they placed wire over the entrances to the nests, where the baby birds were already hatched. The birds beat themselves against the wire as their babies cried from the other side. This girl became hysterical, pleading with them to just let the birds take care of their babies, to no avail. When she returned after having had her own, she wandered around for weeks, crying and clutching a stuffed animal. I talked to her as much as I could but I couldn't do anything to alleviate her pain, which did, of course, ease--as did her ability to feel a good, healthy bond with her baby, I'm sure. Staff was sympathetic, but those were the rules, no matter who, including me, told them that they were doing irreparable harm.

Sometimes the rules run over the people with a bulldozer, and everyone gets to say "I don't make them," and in their name do unconscionable things.

[crim son]

38. My father is a retired ob/gyn who did work for the Oregon

Correctional Department for many years and on occasion for other rehab facilities. The fact is that very, very occasionally there is a danger to the mother, the child and any attending personnel, yes even when a woman is in labor and my dad experienced it first hand on two occasions; I know about them because the events were so shocking. In one case the patient had actually managed to get a handgun and threatened, from her bed, to shoot everybody in the room. Because of his experience I believe that there may be prisoners for whom restraint is advised but not the kind of restraint that leaves permanent scars. edited for grammar

[Jennicut]

39. During labor?! It is painful enough without being shackled.

It is not like a woman can do much to anyone else during labor. Believe me, I could barely move during both my pregnancies when I was in the worst part of my labor. Cruel punishment for no reason.

[Sultana]

40. How can a woman in labor make a run for it?

:crazy:

Ugh, so fucked up.

[cartach]

41. Sarah Palin ?

Sarah sure tried to escape the south while due to give birth and was successful. She didn't attempt to get back to Alaska to escape confinement,just to get home and according to reports she was on the verge of giving birth and that could have taken place on the plane, tarmac, in the terminal, the cab home and so on. So I wouldn't put it past many pregnant convicts to try to use imminent childbirth to attempt escape. I don't think shackling pregnant women or youth is any different than shackling other categories of convicts as long as due care is taken to ensure physical harm is not done. Next thing handcuffing in general will be deemed unconstitutional. I'm a liberal but one who is tired of listening to those in the crybaby category. I and my family have a right to be kept protected from accused or convicted felons running around free because effective means to keep them secure have been abandoned because a minority think somebody's human rights have been violated. As far as I'm concerned their rights in this respect have been suspended temporarily until accusations are dismissed or they've paid their debt to society. If you keep on relaxing laws or means to enforce them you encourage people to buy guns to be prepared to protect themselves and therefore encourage more violence. Law enforcement has to be given the means to effectively perform their job because I and a great many others don't want to have to do it ourselves. Making it easier to escape doesn't cut it.

[waiting for hope]

42. Unreal ... really, unreal.

My youngest was born without an epidural (the hospital keep sending me home.. x( ) and the last thing I would have wanted to do was WALK, must less run away in some fashion.

[varelse]

43. How is this anything other than cruel and unusual punishment?

[BolivarianHero]

44. I'm impressed...

This is a State where the Democrats want to make advocating online poker a felony and where the Republicans are 10 times worse.

[rasputin1952]

45. Overzealous cretins...

Absolutely barbarous...:grr:

This should come under "cruel and unusual punishment" limits among other things. It is inhumane, and only the insane would see shackling as a "necessity" under these circumstances.

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

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[yankee2]

47. Another asshole policy from an asshole country

I can hardly believe what I read - shackling female prisoners during childbirth? That ranks right up with all the police shootings of mildly threatening homeless people, including one with a stick and another who was blind (both a few years ago in San Diego), both KILLED, which the American Police State tries to justify. "I (the officer) felt my life was at risk." Hah! Such f***ing cowards! Can we use that excuse when a cop is killed? Our lives are certainly at risk whenever a cop pulls a gun! Shackles for female prisoners in labor just proves that not only must her guards be incompetent cowards, they are certainly the worst kind of ignorant assholes, too. The American so-called "justice system" knows NOTHING about justice! We live in one of the most absolutely barbaric nations in the world.

I don't usually swear so much!

[NICO9000]

48. The American injustice system is all about humiliation, period

:puke:

[Quantess]

50. How are you supposed to escape with a baby lodged painfully in your pelvis?

Does anyone stop and think?

[undeterred]

51. Women giving birth in hospitals used to be shackled.

I was born in the fifties. My mother told me that they tied her hands and feet during the birth. My father was in the waiting room watching television.

I asked her why they tied her and she said they did it so the mother couldn't hit or kick the doctor. Routine procedure. Mothers were treated like adversaries to a safe birth.

Its not quite the same as being "shackled" but to me its equally disgusting to do that in a hospital.