The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia strongly supports the regulations that will create uniform rules governing the use of restraints on pregnant inmates. Currently, the policies on the use of restraints on pregnant inmates vary across locality, and some jails have no policy at all.  These regulations are needed to better protect the health, safety, and dignity of female prisoners and their babies during labor delivery, and post-partum recovery. 

We applaud the Board of Corrections for adopting these regulations.   Once these regulations are in effect, we urge personnel at local and regional jails not to undermine their intent by considering every inmate a “flight risk” just because they are an inmate.  We also urge local and regional jails to ensure that every “individualized determination” is based solely on the specific facts relating to the individual under consideration and that these facilities annually report any use of restraints under these circumstances.   

We commend the Board of Corrections, the Department of Corrections, and the McDonnell and McAuliffe administrations for supporting these regulations.  Until these regulations go into effect, pregnant inmates and newborns will face unnecessary and dangerous health risks and degrading treatment.  Furthermore, victims, advocates, journalists, and lawmakers will lack a mechanism to better ensure that female prisoners and newborns are not unnecessarily subjected to this treatment.