Vol. 73/No. 34      September 7, 2009

The action was sponsored by Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH), Correctional Association of New York’s Women in Prison Project, and the New York Civil Liberties Union.

After failing for the previous seven years to consider a bill that would end shackling, the state legislature finally approved the bill May 20. For 90 days after its approval New York governor David Paterson took no action to sign it. In response to the protest, and another involving more than 100 people at his office July 9, Paterson appeared before the demonstrators August 18 promising he will now sign the legislation.

The bill bans shackling women prisoners during labor and post-delivery recovery, and limits shackles during transportation to or from hospitals or clinics. Exceptions can be made for “extraordinary circumstances”—“to prevent such woman from injuring herself or medical or correctional personnel.” In such cases, one wrist can be shackled in transit. The legislation doesn’t apply to past escapees and those deemed “terrorists.”

Venita Pinckney, 37, a member of the coalition for women prisoners run by the Women in Prison Project, was among those attending the action. In March 2008 Pinckney was incarcerated at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, one of seven women’s prisons in New York State. “I was put back in jail for a parole violation,” she told the Militant. She was pregnant at the time.

On Nov. 10, 2008, while undergoing labor pains Pinckney was transported to the hospital with chains over her waist, shackled ankles, and handcuffed. “I told officers not to do this, but they said it’s procedure,” said Pinckney. Upon arrival she was kept restrained, having to wait for a prison officer to show up in her room. The shackles came off only as the baby was being born and were put right back on afterward.

Tina Reynolds, 50, is a cofounder of WORTH, a group led by formerly incarcerated women. She did a lot of jail time for drug possession, she told the Militant in a phone interview. Fifteen years ago while pregnant she was incarcerated on a parole violation. Like Pinckney, she was shackled on her way to the hospital.

“I was furious and afraid that if something happened I wouldn’t be able to protect myself or my child,” she said. “I was afraid I would give birth in transport.” At the hospital her ankles remained shackled and one hand was cuffed to the gurney in the birth room. “I was in excruciating pain but couldn’t concentrate on giving birth because of the oppressiveness of not being free to have my child naturally,” she said.

In response to her initiative, the National Organization for Women convention passed an antishackling resolution this past June. As a new member of NOW, Reynolds wrote and presented the resolution, which many women there supported. “This is not a state-by-state issue but must be taken nationally,” she said.

To date only four states—California, Vermont, Illinois, and New Mexico—have policies restricting the shackling of women prisoners during childbirth. This applies to state and local facilities. The Federal Bureau of Prisons adopted this approach in October 2008. However the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has refused to end the use of restraints on pregnant women.

Women represent the fastest growing segment of the prison population in the United States. Since 1985 their numbers have increased at nearly double the rate of men, reports the American Civil Liberties Union.

“About 6,000 women are in state and local correctional facilities in New York,” stated a news release from the Correctional Association of New York. “Nationwide, an estimated 4% of women in state prisons, 3% of women in federal prisons, and 5% of women in jail report being pregnant at the time of incarceration.”  
 
 
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