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Giving Birth in Shackles

By TChris, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 07:22:00 AM EST
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by TChris

Adam Liptak is doing a wonderful job of covering significant criminal justice issues (like this one) that are overlooked by other reporters. Today he tells the distressing story of female prisoners who are kept in leg shackles as they're giving birth.

Despite sporadic complaints and occasional lawsuits, the practice of shackling prisoners in labor continues to be relatively common, state legislators and a human rights group said. Only two states, California and Illinois, have laws forbidding the practice. The New York Legislature is considering a similar bill.

Prison officials argue that felons are dangerous escape risks, but it's difficult to understand how a woman in labor could flee from a prison guard. Shackling isn't just an indignity; it creates health risks for both the inmate and the newborn child.

Shawanna Nelson sued Arkansas as a result of her experience.

Ms. Nelson was serving time for identity fraud and writing bad checks when she gave birth at age 30. She weighed a little more than 100 pounds, and her baby, it turned out, weighed nine and a half pounds.

The experience of giving birth without anesthesia while largely immobilized has left her with lasting back pain and damage to her sciatic nerve, according to her lawsuit against prison officials and a private company, Correctional Medical Services.

Once again, public officials who are paid to think take the easier route: unblinking allegiance to a policy that doesn't fit the circumstances of a woman in labor.

"This is the perfect example of rule-following at the expense of common sense," said William F. Schulz, the executive director of Amnesty International U.S.A. "It's almost as stupid as shackling someone in a coma."

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    • Giving Birth in Shackles | 22 comments (22 topical)
    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#1)
    by aw on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 07:53:42 AM EST
    Can we please get rid of the men in charge? Any woman who's been in labor would know better than to do something so stupid.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#2)
    by squeaky on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 07:59:36 AM EST
    aw-I do not think it is a gender issue as much as a meaness issue. If the people running the show have contempt for the prisoners who they lord over it could just as easily be women who demand shackles, because they know how mean it is.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 08:03:31 AM EST
    Hey, Gimme a break. I'm a guy and even I'm not that clueless. Maureen and I've been together since LBJ was in the White House so I guess that means we're goin' steady. Anyhow, I think I can get her to sign a document to that effect if needed.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 08:03:40 AM EST
    What are they going to do? Jump up and run? Come on... What utter idiocy. Is there something in the water or the air these days interfering with rational thinking, and the ability to show respect and helpfulness to other human beings? Is this part of "compassionate conservatism", along with attempts to ban abortion, and otherwise micromanage and control women?

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#5)
    by aw on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 08:09:28 AM EST
    It's more than mean. It's effing dangerous and inhumane. What a woman in labor needs and wants is help and support. She's pretty much helpless, in pain, worried about her baby. She'd be stopped in her tracks by the force of contractions alone. Sometimes the only relief from contractions is to get up and move around or to assume different positions. Squeaky, I have to disagree, I can imagine some prison matron being mean, but the people who are in charge are mostly men.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#6)
    by aw on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 08:13:14 AM EST
    And yes, I know there are plenty of good men in the world, but they are obviously not in charge under these circumstances.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#7)
    by squeaky on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 08:28:59 AM EST
    aw-
    Squeaky, I have to disagree, I can imagine some prison matron being mean, but the people who are in charge are mostly men.
    Don't you think that the men who torture by attaching electrodes to their victims testicles do it precisely because they know how painful it is. The women you know might all refuse to shackle a woman prisoner in labor, most of the women I know would as well refuse but the same can be said for most of the men I know. I do know a few women who would gladly cause pain and suffering to a woman in labor that they thought deserved it, as well as a few men. They are not my friends. No one gender or race has a monopoly on sadism. in prison it is institutionalized

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#8)
    by roger on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 08:32:40 AM EST
    Squeaky has it right, this is more about power than about gender. They are prison guards first and foremost. Gender and race come second.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#9)
    by Punchy on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 08:34:00 AM EST
    Do they also then handcuff the baby when it's hand emerge, or is that considered going too far? What monsters.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#10)
    by Che's Lounge on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 08:45:51 AM EST
    "All life is precious." GW Monkey Boy

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#11)
    by aw on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 10:42:52 AM EST
    Most of the people making the laws are men. They seem to be accelerating their assaults on women and their rights. Incest is no exception to a father's right to know what's going on in his daughter's life. That was the message from Utah lawmakers who refused Monday to make an exception for incest victims in a proposed law that would require parental consent and notification before a girl's abortion. Gov. Haley Barbour said Wednesday he would probably sign a bill under consideration in the state House that would ban most abortions in Mississippi. The measure, which passed the House Public Health Committee on Tuesday, would allow abortion only to save a woman's life. It would make no exception in cases of rape or incest. A Cook County judge backed off Wednesday after triggering a furor with a warning that he might lock up a woman for refusing to watch a videotape showing her alleged 2002 rape in a Burr Ridge home. To me, this is all of a piece with a renewed campaign to punish women whether she is a convicted criminal or not. Pregnant criminal: punish her. Rape or incest victim: punish her. Had sex: punish her.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#12)
    by Ben Masel on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 11:08:46 AM EST
    Recently Ended in Wisconsin "Prison guards in Wisconsin will no longer shackle inmates during childbirth, a practice The Post-Crescent brought to light this week. Matt Frank, secretary of the state Department of Corrections, told the newspaper Wednesday he has directed his staff to end the use of restraints on pregnant inmates during labor, delivery and recovery. And he expects a formal written policy to be completed."

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 01:16:04 PM EST
    Well, as long as it's cool with you, dude. Oy Vey! Meshuggah

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#15)
    by jen on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 01:24:11 PM EST
    narius,
    The experience of giving birth without anesthesia while largely immobilized has left her with lasting back pain and damage to her sciatic nerve,
    They did this to a person who commited a non violent crime. There is a health issite if you are left with chronic pain. There is a moral issue as well. What percentage of women are capable of making an escape attemp after giving birth with no anesthesia?

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#16)
    by Che's Lounge on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 01:40:52 PM EST
    Jen, Don't waste your time. Narius is a troll. Every one of his comments is designed to create animosity at this site.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#17)
    by Johnny on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 04:00:16 PM EST
    Narius has publically stated he would like the oppurtunity to kill another human being, provided he is paid for his services. Typical wrong-winger. His attitudes towards women and childbirth are nothing short of old-testament mysogyny.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#18)
    by aw on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 08:43:07 PM EST
    Don't you think that the men who torture by attaching electrodes to their victims testicles do it precisely because they know how painful it is.
    You know, this reference to torture brings me back to my original post about the men in charge. Just as the responsibility for torture of prisoners in the GWOT should go to the top of the Bush admin, every state where prisoners in labor are mistreated also has a chain of command. So who is ultimately responsible for prisoner treatment and policy? The guards? Or the lawmakers (who happen to be mostly men)?

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 03, 2006 at 01:52:18 PM EST
    Just unbelievable that they are kept in leg shackles.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#20)
    by Johnny on Fri Mar 03, 2006 at 11:59:26 PM EST
    No it isn't Jobe... Women have been shackled for thousands of years. In fact, tens of thousands of Americans remember when women couldn't even vote in this country. Hundreds of thousands of women right now can tell you stories about their obstacles. The shackles men put on women giving birth are symbolic gestures of male driven power trips. Read the bible to know where this perverted attitude towards women in this country came from.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#21)
    by Edger on Sat Mar 04, 2006 at 07:33:49 AM EST
    Johnny; The shackles men put on women giving birth are symbolic gestures of male driven power trips. Those same shackles are the ones also unwittingly binding the minds of the men who use them. They're just too wilfully blind to see what they do to themselves. The need to control is the flip side of deep insecurity.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Aug 08, 2006 at 05:56:00 AM EST
    I was in prison for 2 years for felony DWI and was pregnant upon incarceration. I gave birth to my son fully shackled (belly chain, legirons, hands cuffed to my sides). In hindsight it was humiliating, but not dangerous. In fact, my guards (who were a man and a woman) were very kind and carefully affixed my shackles, asking if anything was too tight. They explained that it was policy and I accepted it. The bottom line to me was that I was being punished (prison is punishment, right?) so why should I expect the treatment that a non-convicted civilian would have? I made my bad decision and I had to pay for it. Anyway, my hands were released for a while so I could hold Andy. I had to sleep in the hospital in my chains that night, but the thought of my beautiful baby was enough to keep me going. And now I'm married and employed and happy. Just my take on it.

    Re: Giving Birth in Shackles (none / 0) (#23)
    by roger on Tue Aug 08, 2006 at 06:27:16 AM EST
    MarleyG, I'm glad that everything worked out well in the end, but, do you think that it was really neccessary for you to be shackled? What purpose did it serve?

    Giving Birth in Shackles | 22 comments (22 topical)