I support the Board of Corrections’ approval of proposed regulations limiting the use of restraints on pregnant inmates.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshal Service, the American Correctional Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association, and the American Public Health Association have recognized that restraining women during labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery is unnecessary and dangerous to a woman’s health and well being and may harm her child.

As a nurse, and a mother who has delivered 3 children, I cannot imagine anyone being restrained during labor, delivery or the post-partum period.  Such restraints constitute an unjust and cruel punishment of pregnant women inmates.