Action | Amend Minimum Standards for Jails and Lockups to add requirements on restraint of pregnant offenders |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 2/29/2012 |
Shackling of any prisoners should be done only in the direst of circumstances, but particularly pregnant women are susceptible to edema and lifethreatening pulmonary emboli (blood clots). The use of shackles during childbirth is unconscionable in a civilized society and should never be done even under dire circumstances. If a woman in labor escapes, how far could she possibly get?!