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Vol. 77/No. 15      April 22, 2013

 
Prison officials in Iowa forced to
stop shackling pregnant inmates
 
BY HELEN MEYERS
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Corrections revised its policy of physically restraining some pregnant prisoners after claims by women subjected to the practice became public. Statements by three women who had been shackled and handcuffed until being admitted for delivery and then again shortly after giving birth were filed with the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and reported by the Des Moines Register.

Not only is the practice physically painful and degrading, but it poses a number of serious health risks for the woman and her unborn child, medical professionals point out.

Prison officials denied requests from the Register to interview the three women, but allowed the paper to interview two others they selected. Tabatha Jo Fortune, one of the two, said her wrists were kept immobile for five hours in a device known as a “black box” just prior to going into labor in December.

Three hours after the interviews, Iowa prison officials contacted the Register to announce the policy had been revised to prohibit inmates who are at least 22 weeks pregnant from being restrained unless they posed an “immediate security risk.” Prisoners will remain unrestrained after giving birth until they return to prison.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2009 that prison authorities in Arkansas violated the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution barring cruel and unusual punishment when they shackled a woman during labor and right after delivery.

A bill scheduled to be introduced in the Iowa State Senate to restrict the use of restraints for pregnant inmates was suppressed last week after Sen. Kent Sorenson introduced an amendment that would prohibit the use of state money to “perform or facilitate” abortions for prisoners. Sen. Janet Peterson, the bill’s manager, withdrew the bill, she said, because she didn’t want to “spark a contentious floor debate on the abortion issue.”
 
 
Related articles:
Alabama Legislature passes new restrictions on abortion
Trotsky: ‘Abortion is key civic, political, cultural right of women’
 
 
 
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