Being shackled during labor.

Yes you read correctly women who are incacerated or detained are sometimes shackled during labor. 

First of all.  I apologize (not sure who actually reads my blog if anyone) but I haven't updated in quite some time.  Probably because I'm just about 9 months pregnant now and any bit of precious time I have at night I usually spend stuck in the couch or trying to get some much needed rest before baby #2 comes along. 

So I will try to post more often.  Also I changed the theme of the blog from "Family law issues" to pretty much any legal issue, because I think it was a bit misleading.  I'm not after all, a family law attorney, but I find legal issues that affect families to be interesting.  I'm not sure people really grasped the distinction because I kept getting requests from people to write about specific family law issues.

Shaul Schwarz/Getty Images

Anyway I digress, back to being shackled during labor.  It sounds like it would fit into the category of cruel and unusual punishment right? Well it should in my opinion, and some states have taken that stance.

I'm inspired to write about this, because in the last few years I have read a few stories online about women who had been charged with some immigration violations (like using false IDs) who were forced to give birth while in shackles or handcuffs!  I read those stories and was so incredibly angry. My heart went out to these women especially given that I have already gone through labor once and am now pregnant again and cannot even fathom having to be restrained while in labor.

The links to some of these stories are below:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128563037&ft=1&f=1128

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/07/06/giving-birth-chains-the-shackling-incarcerated-women-during-labor-and-delivery

I finally read a follow up to one of the stories and it inspired me to write this post.

image provided by: phoenixnewstimes.com

Two years ago a woman by the name of Miriam Mendiola-Martinez said she was forced to give birth while shackled to a bed, not allowed to hold her newborn baby after birth and even forced to walk out of the hospital while shackled just a few days after her c-section still bleeding. 

Follow up

She has now (thankfully) sued our favorite sheriff, Joe Arpaio of Arizona (yes that was sarcasm, he is awful in my opinion). 

It all sounds extreme but that's what her lawsuit alleges.  I'm trying to get my hands on a copy of the complaint and hope to find a link to the actual complaint online. Here is the citation to the case:
Mendiola v. Arpaio, et. al, Arizona District Court Number 11CV2512, filed on 12/19/11.  I was able to access the case through the Federal Court filing and I THINK you can view it here.
For all the lawyers and others who actually want to know what her complaint is alleging, here are the counts in the complaint:

• PLAINTIFF’S CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST DEFENDANTS FOR INTERFERING WITH PLAINTIFF’S RIGHTS UNDER 42 USC §§ 1981 and 1983
• COUNT ONE
  

  VIOLATIONS OF THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT

  (Deliberate Indifference to Serious Medical Needs)
• COUNT TWO
  

  VIOLATIONS OF THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT

  (Deliberate Indifference to Serious Medical Needs)
• COUNT THREE VIOLATIONS OF THE EIGHTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS
  (Cruel and Unusual Punishment)
• COUNT FOUR VIOLATIONS OF THE FIFTH, FOURTEENTH, AND FIFTEENTH AMENDMENTS
  (Equal Protection – Disparate Treatment)
• COUNT FIVE-MONELL LIABILITY (this has to do with her alleging that she suffered immediate and irreparable injury, including physical, psychological and emotional injury and risk of death. See
  Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Svcs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978)

And just to touch on some of the legal issues involved according to the Huffing Post article cited above and other research:

Legal Issues

 

• The American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have denounced the practice of shackling during childbirth
• BUT it's still legal in 36 states
• The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the United States Marshal's Service have also eliminated the practice.
• In 2008 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit found shackling during child birth to constitute cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.  HERE is a link to the case NELSON v. CORRECTIONAL MEDICAL SERVICES ADC.
• Also, supposedly ten states now have anti-shackling legislation: California, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia — and as of two weeks ago, Pennsylvania. (I have yet to read all of these statutes and can provide links to the statutes once I do)
• The practice has been condemned by the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which maintains it is a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishments.

And finally of course, this is not the first time a woman has been forced to give labor under these extreme and cruel conditions.  Here are lots of more examples I found. 

• Here in our good old Cook County (in Chicago):  "Childbirth in Chains, more than 20 former Cook County inmates have filed suit, say they were handcuffed or shackeld during labor"
• Here is a case where a woman actually sued in Federal Court in TN and was awarded $200,000.00 in damages.  The case is: Villegas v. Metropolitan Government of Davidson County/Nashville Davidson County Sheriff’s Office.
• This is a nice article I found from "Our Bodies Our Selves" (Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS), also known as the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective (BWHBC), is a nonprofit, public interest women’s health education, advocacy, and consulting organization.) called "Shackled during birth, nothing to lose but our humanity" that talks about this problem.
• Here is another recent article from "The Daily Beast" that addresses the issue.
• Finally, the Justice Fellowship site gives a nice synopsis of some recent cases of women restrained while in labor. 

The National Orgazination for Women

The National Organization for Women put together a "Guide to Eliminating Shackling of Incarcerated Women Pre-, During and Post-Labor and Delivery" in 2010 that I found quite helpful in that it cited several cases and websites that provide information about this practice.

 Controversy

The topic of shackling women during labor is sure to cause a heated argument amongst those who don't believe that prisoners or detainees have the same rights as others, and those who believe in human rights across the board. 

It also separates those who believe that law enforcement should be allowed to protect themselves and shackle inmates even in labor who may pose a risk to the public, from those who believe the practice amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. 

Finally, as far as the immigration and deportation cases go, there will also be those people who argue that people who are in this country illegally should not have a right to sue the government and receive compensation from the American people and others who do want to hold our government accountable for their actions even if committed against an "illegal" or undocumented immigrant.