Action | Amend Minimum Standards for Jails and Lockups to add requirements on restraint of pregnant offenders |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 9/27/2013 |
Reading about policies in Virginia prisons I wonder if correction officials have completely lost track of what we are trying to accomplish by temporarily isolating individuals from society. As I understand the theory, we have two goals:
1. Prevent harm to others
2. Provide the individual opportunities to find more productive ways to live their life.
A general principle of restraining pregnant inmates seems to me to serve neither of these goals. New rules should make restraint a rare exception to the norm. I commend the Officials who have proposed new more humane rules. I urge their adoption.