Pregnant Inmates & The Anti-Shackling Bill
On any given day in New York, there are approximately 12 to 15 pregnant women incarcerated in prisons and 110 in local jails. The Women In Prison Project, a recent report done by The Correctional Association of New York, brings to light the ways these women’s rights, both as inmates and human beings, are violated again and again. Women are still being shackled on there way to, from, and sometimes during labor, despite an anti-shackling bill enacted in New York State in 2009. Now another anti-shackling bill sponsored by assemblyman N. Nick Perry and Senator Velmanette Montgomery has made its way through the Assembly and the Senate, and has yet to be signed by Governor Cuomo.
“We interviewed 27 women who had given birth after the 2009 law went into effect,” Tamar Kraft-Solar, the author of the comprehensive report, told The Huffington Post in an interview. “and 23 of those 27 women had been shackled at some point in violation of the law.”
The new bill will hopefully further enforce the law already in place, and hold COs to higher standards, but the NYS Sheriffs Association disagrees. Claiming that the bill is an “unfunded mandate”. The Sheriffs Association has supported Counties Orange and Cattaragus in passing resolutions for Governor Cuomo to veto the bill. Local correctional facilities such as these, however, rarely hold many pregnant inmates, those of which are not usually held there long enough to have to be transported. The Correctional Association refuted the NYS Sherriffs Association’s claim that the bill is an unfunded mandate; saying the bill would only further enforce the current regulations and if there is a minor increase in cost “to ensure that pregnant women are not subjected to dangerous and degrading shackling practices, then those funds should be spent.”
Unfortunately, shackling is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to women’s health and reproductive rights in prison. Women are reportedly refused contraceptives other than condoms. Even those women who have been prescribed hormonal contraceptives due to their irregular or especially heavy or painful periods are refused them. Gynecology visits for incarcerated women are scarce — sometimes impossible to get. It was reported that one woman waited over seven months for a cancer treatment. She died shortly after being released. There are delays in breast examination irregular findings follow-ups, the inmates have no say as to the gender of their GYN doctor, and there are reports of rude and sometimes abusive treatment. 9 out of 10 women in prisons have a history of being abused.
Although this has all the characteristics of a women’s rights issue, “Women in the Criminal Justice System were just not noticed by the women’s movement for the past 30 years.” Says Amy Fettig, Senior Staff Council for the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “People are realizing we should not just be focusing on upper class women’s rights.” She says, “Where people’s rights are violated, you need to take notice.”
The Women In Prison’s Project reports that women were not only shackled during pregnancy, but endured inadequate medical attention, and their supplements and confinement conditions were often ignored. They are given food that pregnant women are advised to avoid. “Many pregnant women reported inadequate heat and ventilation, too little privacy and infestations of pests in their housing areas.” The report claims.
When it comes to giving birth, the women are often brought to the hospital with their hands and ankles cuffed, sometimes with their stomachs chained. During labor, most are handcuffed to the bed, unable to properly move and push during labor. The CO’s have reportedly stayed in the room during labor, at the protest of the doctors. They are then cuffed during recovery, and on their return trip to the prison. “Even with the waist chains just days after having a C-section.” Says the WIPP.
How is this new Anti-Shackling bill an improvement on the bill passed in 2009? “Well for one thing, the bill mandates the women know about their rights.” Says Fettig. “Women often don’t speak out, or ask about their rights.”
“You can’t talk to staff, you can’t see inside the Prison, you can’t talk to inmates..” Says Fettig, “And within the past two decades, numbers (of inmates) are rising — and this is being largely ignored.” So, why focus on female inmates specifically? Fettig says issues like shackling during pregnancy can be largely blamed for what she calls the “male model.” “I think men were shackled being brought anywhere, so they shackled the women too.” She says, “These systems are made by and for men.” This, she says, attributes to a systemic nation-wide neglect that is largely ignored by the media, and by extension, the public. “Women’s resources are overlooked.” Says Fettig through a sigh, “The baseline is always male, and that’s not what equality looks like.”
