NEW: Rules on Restraint of Pregnant Prisoners Passes House
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Standards for the use of restraints such as handcuffs or shackles for prisoners or detainees in the second or third trimester of pregnancy passed the RI Hiuse yesterday. The bill calls for the least restrictive restraints necessary, and expressly prohibits their use if the prisoner does not pose an immediate and serious threat of physical harm or a substantial flight risk during labor and medical examinations.
Sponsored by Rep. Donna M. Walsh, the Healthy Pregnancies for Incarcerated Women Act (2011-H 5257 A) is intended to prevent unnecessary restraints that could cause harm to women or their babies during pregnancy or labor.
“Restraints and shackles can pose genuine harm to pregnant women, especially during delivery, when women need to be able to move. This legislation gives the Department of Corrections the power it needs to stop inmates from escaping or harming someone, but puts the health and safety of the pregnancy first,” said Representative Walsh.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFlight Risk Limited
The bill requires that only medically appropriate restraints be used on prisoners in their second or third trimesters of pregnancy, and bans restraints entirely during transport to a medical facility, labor, delivery, or postpartum recovery, unless there are compelling grounds to believe that the prisoner or detainee presents an immediate and serious threat of physical harm to herself, staff or others; or a substantial flight risk and cannot be reasonably contained by other means, and requires that the least restrictive means be used. It also bans leg or waist restraints from being used on prisoners or detainees who are in labor or delivery, and bans waist restraints during postpartum recovery.
“The vast majority of female prisoners are not incarcerated for violent crimes, and the case in which a prisoner who is about to deliver a baby poses a real flight risk would be a very rare one. Toward the end of pregnancy, few women can really move very deftly, and many women have trouble with balance, so shackles on the legs are real hazard. There just aren’t many situations in which it would really be necessary to restrain prisoners who are delivering their child, so the policy should be to avoid them altogether, and when they are absolutely necessary, use the least restrictive means,” said Representative Walsh.
The Senate has passed identical legislation (2011-S 0165 A) sponsored by Sen. Rhoda E. Perry (D-Dist. 3, Providence).
If yoiu valued this article, please LIKE GoLocalProv.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.
