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Back in 2010, when I was working in Philadelphia, there was a big controversy over whether the Pennsylvania prison system should put inmates who are giving birth in restraints. Doctors tended to think this was a barbaric practice that makes labor and delivery more difficult and dangerous. Lawmakers agreed; they passed a law prohibiting prisons from restraining women during childbirth except if the mother posed a danger to herself or others—a loophole big enough to drive a Mack truck through [WHYY], but the law marked progress nonetheless. To date, more than twenty states have policies banning these restraints—and, to be honest, I thought that, eight years after Pennsylvania’s law passed, that would be commonplace throughout the country. Not, as it turns out, in North Carolina, at least not yet.

  • N&O: “North Carolina policies that call for pregnant inmates to be shackled to a hospital bed while in labor could be revised soon, after a complaint about the practice. The review comes after SisterSong, an Atlanta-based organization that promotes reproductive rights for women of color, and groups from North Carolina sent a letter to the state Department of Public Safety questioning the treatment of two unnamed inmates. ‘The North Carolina Department of Public Safety prohibits the use of shackling during delivery and yet in recent weeks at least two people from the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women were restrained throughout their laboring process at a local medical center,’ the coalition of organizations stated. ‘This was in spite of the concerns of medical staff and the fact that it was in violation of NC Department of Public Safety written policies and legal precedent.’”
  • The problem is that the state forbids shackling during “delivery,” which isn’t really a well-defined term. “Inmates can be restrained while in childbirth. Policy that dates back to 2015 states that inmates shall not be restrained ‘while in delivery,’ [N.C. Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Pamela Walker] added. But delivery is a medical term, Walker said, and precisely when that means the restraints should come off is not spelled out in the policy. ‘That will be reinforced in the new policy anticipated to be instituted soon,’ she said.”
  • “Last year, there were 81 inmates who delivered babies while incarcerated. Pregnant offenders housed in county jails routinely are sent to the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh. Once the child is born, the mother can bond with the baby as long as the mother is in the hospital, Walker said. Once the offender is discharged from the hospital to return to prison, the individual designated by the inmate in her ‘baby plan’ to be the caretaker will come to the hospital and take custody of the child. There are currently 50 pregnant offenders housed in the state prison system, Walker said.”
  • There has been a global movement in recent years to end the shackling of pregnant prisoners, and offer better treatment in general to female inmates. Last year, the federal Bureau of Prisons announced that feminine hygiene products had to be provided to inmates free of charge. A group of Democratic senators introduced the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act, which would ban the shackling of pregnant women.”

WHAT IT MEANS: I get the prison-system impulse to shackle any and all prisoners, especially those being transported off prison grounds. Escapes, after all, would be a black eye. But, as the N&O story notes, according to SisterSong, no people in labor have escaped or harmed others in the states where restraint is illegal. They are, after all, giving birth, and it would seem difficult to hatch an escape plot in between contractions.