Widely-Supported California Bill to End Shackling of Pregnant Women in Prison Faces Possible Veto

[midnight]

Assembly Bill 568 (Skinner) would limit the use of shackles on incarcerated pregnant women to the least restrictive restraints possible.

Translation: It would end the use of belly chains, leg irons, ankle restraints and other barbaric shackling devices that are used on pregnant women in jails and prisons across our state. Yes, shackles reminiscent of slavery are still being used on pregnant women as far long as 8 ½ months.

Medical professionals agree that it’s time for a change. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) was so moved by this issue that they became co-sponsors of the bill. ACOG opposes the use of any restraints on pregnant women because it increases the risk of falling and leaving the pregnant woman, whose balance is already compromised, unable to break those falls.

When I tell my friends about the bill, their response is usually a quiet gasp followed by a confused expression because they are in disbelief. “We actually do that?”

http://my.firedoglake.com/rhrealitycheck/2011/10/03/widely-supported-california-bill-to-end-shackling-of-pregnant-women-in-prison-faces-possible-veto/


The sheriff's dept. wrote the gov. a letter and I guess they find this practice necessary to do their job... So the gov. will most likely comply and not sign the bill that allows a long standing practice of doing this even while the mother is in labor.... You have to wonder about a prison system and a society that allows this practice against women....

[LAGC]

1. Wow, that's crazy. The ACLU helped pass an anti-shackling bill here in conservative Idaho.

It would be crazy to think a state as conservative as Idaho could pass it, but California couldn't.

Wow.

[midnight]

2. I know... Or Arizona's Sherriff joe... and his deputies.

AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio needs no introduction, his bigotry and illegal activity has been well documented. The latest outrage on his watch comes at the hands of one of his deputies, who forced a woman to give birth while cuffed at the wrists and ankles, then ordered the baby taken from the mother:

The bleeding kept her up all night, drenching her black-and-white-striped jail uniform.

Alma Chacón feared her baby would arrive early. Her nightmare had started with a traffic stop a day earlier. She'd been weeping since. "What if the baby is born here, in the jail?" she thought.

In the afternoon, she was shackled and transported to Maricopa County Medical Center, where she gave birth in a "forensic restraint." She couldn't hold her baby daughter or kiss her. She could only watch as hospital personnel carried the infant out the door. She wouldn't see the baby for 72 days.http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/legal-immigrant-forced-give-birth-sha

[saras]

3. That's damaging enough to the kid to justify a lawsuit for that alone.

The science is in on that one.