Cook County, Ill., Inmates File Lawsuits Alleging Illegal Shackling During Childbirth

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Public Health;  Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 20 Jul 2010 - 4:00 PDT

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Twenty female former inmates in Cook County, Ill., have filed lawsuits against the county sheriff's office claiming they were handcuffed by their wrists or shackled by their legs during labor and childbirth, the Chicago Tribune reports. Last month, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve granted the suit class action status. Most of the women were awaiting trial after arrests for non-violent crimes.

Illinois law states that "under no circumstances" should shackles or leg irons be used on women who are in labor or being transported to a hospital for childbirth. Once a pregnant woman has entered a hospital, the law requires a correctional officer to be posted outside the delivery room. Previously, guards commonly stood at the bedside during delivery, according to advocates. In 2008, the Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a policy to "severely restrict" the shackling of pregnant women in facilities under its jurisdiction, the Tribune reports.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists condemned the shackling of inmates during labor in 2007, and the American Medical Association this June issued a resolution describing the practice as "barbaric" and "medically hazardous." Three federal courts have found that the unnecessary shackling of women in labor violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

The attorney for the former prisoners alleges that restraints were never removed or were removed "too late" in the delivery process, and that guards sometimes declined the requests of medical professionals to remove the restraints sooner. Steve Patterson, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office, said the office's policy is to wait until a medical professional confirms that labor has begun before removing the restraints.

Patterson said guards now only use handcuffs on pregnant prisoners. Previously, the policy allowed the use of handcuffs, shackles and belly chains that circle the waist and attach to other restraints, according to the Tribune. Patterson also noted that the sheriff office's policy calls for a guard, "preferably female," to be posted "discreetly near the head of subject's bed." Patterson contends that the county policy does not violate state law because the law "does not say anywhere that an officer cannot be in the room."

According to the Tribune, roughly 50 inmates give birth annually in Cook County. Statistics from the federal Bureau of Justice show that 4% of women in state prisons and 3% of women in federal prisons were pregnant at the time of admission in 2004 (Mastony, Chicago Tribune, 7/18).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

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