Giving Birth in Shackles
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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