Shackled During Labor: Medieval Practice, Modern Policy—Prisoners’ Access to Reproductive Healthcare
I am not a worthless piece of trash, but rather a valuable asset to people, families, the community—and the world. I hope that my story will help to alleviate the disgraceful practice of shackling women during labor, which in turn will help alleviate the negative behaviors of prison guards and hospital staff toward women who give birth while incarcerated.—Kimberly Mays
As of this spring, thanks to women like Kimberly Mays and fellow reproductive justice advocates across the state, Washington state can boast two large victories against the practice of shackling pregnant incarcerated women. On March 23, 2010, the Governor signed into law HB 2747 which bans the use of restraints on female inmates in labor or post-partum recovery, making Washington only the 7th state in the nation to pass anti-shackling legislation. Just a couple of weeks ago, Legal Voice, a women’s rights organization based out a of Seattle, sent a press-release confirming that on May 3, 2010, the federal district court agreed that shackling laboring women violates the Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The Department of Corrections also agreed to pay plaintiff, Casandra Brawley, $125,000 to settle her lawsuit. But, nationwide, jails and prisons and immigration detention centers continue to put non-violent women in restraints such as leg irons and wrist shackles during childbirth. Pregnant women are shackled on the way to the hospital, while they are giving birth, and during recovery.
In the middle of all this movement in Washington, on April 6th, 2010, the LSRJ chapter at the University of Washington School of Law hosted a panel discussion on how this practice must come to an end everywhere. Our panelists represented the multi-level approach necessary to fight reproductive oppression and advance the well-being of women and girls: Kimberly Mays, an activist, reproductive justice advocate, and Parent to Parent Coordinator for Seattle and Kent WA, who was shackled during labor; Sara Ainsworth, head Senior Legal & Legislative Counsel at Legal Voice; and Mao Reich and Molly Paine-Donovan–doulas from The Birth Attendants, a Non-Profit Organization based in Olympia Washington that provides reproductive health education, birth support, resources and advocacy to pregnant and post-partum women who are incarcerated at the Washington State Corrections Center for Women (WCCW).
The panelists discussed how the practice of shackling pregnant mothers in labor and delivery is dangerous to the health and well-being of both the mother and child. But, the panelists also used the practice of shackling as a catalyst to discuss the issues of race and poverty as an underlying cause for the over incarceration of women, a vast majority who are non-violent.
Empowered to share her story in order to inspire change, Kimberly urged the future lawyers in the room to look at new ways of addressing the over-incarceration of women and to look to more effective and less costly alternatives. Kimberly described how she was transported to the hospital in shackles and then forced to give birth with one wrist chained to the bed while she was incarcerated at WCCW in 2000. Although Kimberly serves on several legislative advisory committees and on several boards, at first she was hesitant to share her story with the legislature. But once she took the time to write down her story, she realized the horror that she was forced to endure and how telling her story could help put an end to the practice. She described how, in order to stop her screams from the pains of labor, a nurse covered her mouth with such force she felt like, “some annoying ‘animal’ who needed to be put down or something, instead of a mother who was about to give birth.”
Sara Ainsworth discussed the legal responses to shackling, but she emphasized that it was because of women like Kimberly Mays, who were willing to share their testimony, that the legislators in Olympia listened. Sara discussed the constitutional and human rights frameworks for banning the practice of shackling. She also highlighted the progress across the nation, and in states such as California, which have pushed for banning shackles throughout pregnancy. She explained that although the Federal Bureau of Prisons banned the shackling of pregnant inmates in almost all circumstances in 2008, the fight was not over since the policy does not cover all areas where women are incarcerated—such as in many state facilities, juvenile facilities and immigration detention.
Mao Reich and Molly Paine-Donovan discussed how the policies play out for their clients on the ground at WCCW. They reminded us that the issue was not how to make prisons more comfortable, but rather to address why so many women are being incarcerated due to laws and policies such as the war on drugs which criminalize poverty. They also discussed another issue beyond the horror of shackling itself: the likelihood that a mother’s parental rights will be terminated due to the lack of real resources and efforts by the state to keep families together. They explained how the issues of race, class, and sexuality bundle together and work with incarceration in a really “interesting” way, which ends up denying people their fundamental right to parent.
UW LSRJ planned this event as part of the UW’s Gates Public Service Law “Social Justice Tuesday” programming and in collaboration with the Law Women’s Caucus and the Innocence Project Northwest. By using LSRJ’s EEE materials to highlight local changes, the event made it clear that the two victories in WA only mark the beginning in the movement for securing reproductive rights for women who are incarcerated.
Lillian Hewko