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N.Y. Prisons – No Shackling Laboring Moms
Remember labor? How you felt shackled to your hospital bed by that annoying monitor strapped to your belly and all those frustrating wires? Oh yeah, and the I.V. too.
Now imagine all that plus real shackles on your wrists and ankles, a chain across your pregnant belly. That’s how some moms in state prisons give birth, and it could be putting them and their babies at risk. Governor Paterson is expected to put a ban on the practice in all New York state prisons this week.
We all know that flat-on-back is no longer the preferred way to have a baby. But corrections officers worry that if they allow a laboring mom freedom, she’ll either cause trouble or escape. “They can coordinate on the outside to facilitate an escape,” New York Department of Correctional Services spokesman Erik Kriss said in an interview with the Associated Press. “We have to be vigilant about those kinds of things.” Kriss thinks a state law will put prison employees at risk, taking away their freedom to judge individual cases.
Federal prisons and prisons in five states — N.Y. will be the sixth — ban the practice, however, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the ACLU both condemn it. “I’m saying to myself, ‘I feel like a pregnant animal,’” Venita Pickney, 37, told the Associated Press of her experience of giving birth while shackled.
It’s hard to imagine a mom with a dilating cervix who’s experiencing hard contractions trying to do anything but breathe through the pain, and — felon or not — it’s wrong, in my opinion and in this country of ours, to go against what is medically appropriate and cause undue psychological and physical pain to a woman in labor.
But at the same time, I don’t want to see prison employees put at risk. While there probably are inmates who need extra security, it seems like there has got to be a better method that chaining them to their bed. A locked hospital room? Extra guards?
How do you feel about this issue — is it basic human rights? Or does the collective safety of the guards come first?
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PlumbLucky commented on Aug 26 09 at 11:12 amThere has to be a balance – they are felons. And though difficult to believe (that they could somehow coordinate an escape), never underestimate the power of someone who is desperate and has nothing to lose. Never mind the fact that myself, I had nearly enough strength to break my husband’s hand while in labor. Locked hospital ward? That might not be enough – you might wind up with injured or worse guards or medical personnel. I don’t know the answer, I really don’t.
How does one end up in max security for violation of parole? WTH did she do in the first place? (Call that a side note)
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Aug 26 09 at 12:17 pmI would call this an issue of basic human decency. Not so much rights, since the prisoner forfeits their rights when they commit the crime. As far as safety of the guards… um, c’mon. If you’re such a (‘nother way to call a cat a kitten) that you can’t handle yourself against a laboring woman, perhaps you should be getting out of the prison guard business. What, you think she’s going to pull a shiv out her womb? I’m not saying provide these women unfettered access to a birthing pool, candles and a circle of friends and family to witness the beauty and light of a prison birth, but chaining them like animals is horrifying.
Lila commented on Aug 26 09 at 1:29 pmChaining women during labor is inhumane and deplorable. Yay Gov. Paterson!
People need to keep in mind that a crime can be deemed a felony even if it isn’t a violent crime. Just because the woman is a felon doesn’t mean she’s violent. Each labor must be approached on a case by case basis (which is difficult tightrope for the state to walk).
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