Under an anti-shackling bill signed into law Tuesday, New York state will no longer shackle pregnant inmates when being transported.
The law also gave prisons the order to not handcuff female prisoners for eight weeks after delivery.
“These common sense reforms strike the right balance that protect the health and dignity of a pregnant inmate, while also addressing public safety concerns.” said Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York.
The use of handcuffs can increase the risk of blood clots and falling, which is another reason why handcuffing pregnant inmates can be hazardous.
In the process of signing the bill, Cuomo said it will make the criminal justice system “fairer and stronger.” Previously, the law only covered disabling handcuffs when the woman was in labor, delivery, and recovery.
Shackles were used on pregnant inmates when they are taken to weekly appointments and trips between prisons, which according to Cuomo, can take up to 10 hours.
This is a great breakthrough for women rights advocates and civil rights advocates, who have discussed this issue for a very long time.
“There are few things scarier happening to women in New York jails and prisons: being pregnant and getting shackled,”said Sonia Ossorio , president of the state chapter of the National Organization for Women.
The new law also prohibits staff of the prisons from being present in the delivery room, except if it is requested by the medial team or the pregnant inmate.
However, women in more than half the U.S. states are still able to be shackled during pregnancy and have no laws restricting this practice, which includes being handcuffed during delivery.
In a statement to BuzzFeed via email, Soffiyah Elijah, Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New York, called the bill the most progressive legislation of its kind in the country.
“Ending the barbaric practice of shackling pregnant women is essential to protecting babies and their mothers,” said Elijah
According to The New York Daily News, a study has shown that state prisons had been in violation of the law to not handcuff inmates during delivery.
Feature image by KlausHausmann via Pixabay available under a Creative Commons license.
