Pregnant woman is handcuffed and shackled while in labor!

STOP SHACKLING PREGNANT PRISONERS!

Target:

Prison Activists, Women's Rights, Anti-Torture, Human Rights, Everyone

Increase your signature's impact by personalizing your letter

I agree to Care2's terms of service.

We respect your privacy. Your email address is used to confirm your signature and is NOT displayed publicly.

We signed the "STOP SHACKLING PREGNANT PRISONERS!" petition!

# 224:

10:25 pm PST, Nov 20, Stacey Salvaggio, Arizona

# 223:

7:00 pm PST, Nov 20, Lindsay Monchamp, Arizona

# 222:

8:07 am PST, Nov 2, Stephanie Dias, California

# 221:

1:01 pm PDT, Oct 15, Carole Hagen, Oregon

# 220:

5:23 am PDT, Sep 12, Marianne Mattinson, United Kingdom

# 219:

3:38 am PDT, Sep 9, Anna Davin, United Kingdom

# 218:

2:18 am PDT, Sep 9, Ruth Balogh, United Kingdom
Shackling women while pregnant, and even worse, when giving birth, is an appalling act of cruelty not only to the woman but to another completely innocent human being about to enter the world.

# 217:

10:39 pm PDT, Sep 8, Elizabeth Belflower, Alabama

# 216:

8:21 am PDT, Aug 28, Callum Laggan, Denmark
Have You Barbaric People Who Thought Up The Idea of Shackling a Pregnant Women Never Had A Mother ? Were Do you Get Your Thoughts & Ideas about Humanity From . All You Need Is Love, Try It Love Works Best

# 215:

5:22 am PDT, Aug 26, Loreen Partlow, Michigan
The morals of a society that allows such practices is despicable and A Country is only as great as it treats the (weak and/or defenseless) least of its citizens...Women and the unborn qualify to me and this Country is no longer great as such and all who allow this have no honor!

Stop wasting my money and the taxpayer's on non-violent crimes by Women... in truth Stop incarcerating so many non-violent criminals as C.A.P.P.S. ( Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending) and other studies, research and documentation has shown that this practice is no deterrent or solution to non-violent crime besides the exorbitant costs. See or refer to C.A.P.P.S. A ten-point plan to reduce corrections Spending in 2010. Principle:Reserve Prison Beds for Violent Offenders. The 10-point plan for Michigan is a fine example of many solutions to our country's current Prison and Prisoner problems and the D.O.C.'s and the Judicial systems outrageous costs and the public's expense.

# 214:

8:58 pm PDT, Aug 25, K Simpson-williams, Georgia

# 213:

5:49 pm PDT, Aug 25, Michelle Miller, Indiana
This is horrific and needs to stop. It is extremely cruel and not at all beneficial to shackle birthing mothers! To the contrary I would think it would increase labor time and complications for both the mother and child. As a mother I am absolutely horrified at the thought of this. Please end this practice and place a ban on shackling non-violent women who are in the birthing process. *mother of two beautiful boys (2 & 4yrs)

# 212:

4:09 pm PDT, Aug 25, Betty Beck, Iowa
This is inhuman. It is stressful enough giving birth without chains attached. Only a committee of women haters could have come up with this practice.

# 211:

9:21 am PDT, Aug 25, Name not displayed, California
Yes

Yes

# 209:

2:15 pm PDT, Aug 13, Michael Haggerty, Texas
This practice is a gross example of man's inhumanity to women ..and follows in the tradition of the rapes in the Congo, rape and murder of enslaved African women

# 208:

9:11 am PDT, Aug 7, Fatima Grace Lacanilao, RN, MSN, Philippines
when i was in undergraduate studies, i was able to have a research regarding the lived experiences of incarcerated intrapartum women. one of the focus of the research is the physical aspect of women who are shackled during labor and delivery.

I've read legislative bills of states of America regarding the issue of shackling an inmate while in labor and delivery. i was shocked when i found out that there isn't any act or bill in my own country which could help eliminate the practice of shackling pregnant inmates. now, i'm proposing a policy paper regarding the issue. i hope that the house of representatives in our country would be able to see and feel the pain of being shackled when someone is supposed to be happy for experiencing childbirth.

# 207:

10:45 am PDT, Aug 5, Ga-Nesha Hamilton, Nevada

# 206:

11:41 am PDT, Aug 4, Roger Drew, New York
How backwards is our "justice system" that we even NEED a petition for this topic? It seems like many in our country have lost our way and i fear for our path...

# 205:

4:52 pm PDT, Aug 3, Maureen Flansburg, Nevada
This practice is beyond cruel.

# 204:

11:52 am PDT, Aug 2, Leigh Lavoie, Canada
Shackling women during child birth is the most horendous thing I've ever heard of. Ask any woman in the corrections department if they agree with this. It is inhumane. How can the medical staff deliver a baby under these cicumstances? And look at themselves in the mirror. This is so wrong. These woman are human, they had lives before being incarcerated. And they have family and loved ones as well. Stop this practice immediately or there will be more deaths within the correction department.

# 203:

10:55 am PDT, Aug 2, Michelle Ravell, Nevada
When will Amnesty International take up this cause? What a disgusting and inhumane practice, right here in the land of the free. Can we still call ourselves the watchdog on human rights when we allow these types of practices go on?

# 202:

10:29 am PDT, Aug 2, Lawrence Rider, Nevada

# 201:

9:13 am PDT, Aug 2, Donna Metcalf, Nevada

# 200:

5:29 am PDT, Aug 2, Andrea Perez, Florida

# 198:

10:49 am PDT, Aug 1, Yveline LACAVE, France

# 197:

3:52 am PDT, Jul 31, Kit Aastrup, Denmark

# 196:

7:13 pm PDT, Jul 30, Sandra Duffy, California

# 195:

7:41 pm PDT, Jul 29, Name not displayed, Florida

# 194:

5:06 pm PDT, Jul 29, Gloria Alonzo, California
There is absolutely no justification besides repression to shackle women in labor. Where are they going to flee during contractions and birth? This is inhumane torture. Stop this vile practice NOW.

# 193:

2:26 pm PDT, Jul 29, Name not displayed, Ohio
Shackling pregnant women is a barbarous practice that must be stopped. Women should be able to be in a comfortable position during labor to facilitate the labor, make labor and delivery safer for both the woman and her child. Shackling is inhumane, a woman in labor is not a threat to anyone. A woman in the last stages of labor and delivery is not a test animal to be hindered and shackled, give these women the dignity and safety all laboring women should have. Do not shackle women in labor.

# 192:

1:32 pm PDT, Jul 29, Nicole Chaidas, Greece
This is absolutely disgusting! Pregnancy is hard enough on it's own. Not only does this have potential to hurt the mother, but also the baby.

# 191:

8:27 pm PDT, Jul 28, Terri Guilford, California
This is one of the mose inhumane things I have ever heard about. This should be stopped at once!

# 190:

6:56 pm PDT, Jul 28, Dave Room, California

# 189:

6:56 pm PDT, Jul 28, Mollie Crittenden, California

# 188:

9:26 am PDT, Jul 28, Phavia Kujichagulia, California

# 187:

8:51 am PDT, Jul 28, Elizabeth Roberts, New York
Most women prisoners are incarcerated for non-violent crimes.

# 186:

4:04 am PDT, Jul 28, Beth Venzke, Illinois

# 185:

11:30 pm PDT, Jul 27, Dixianne Hawks, California

# 184:

1:51 pm PDT, Jul 27, Name not displayed, New York

# 183:

1:41 pm PDT, Jul 27, MARY TROOP, California
THE SHACKLING OF PREGNANT PRISONERS DURING CHILD BIRTH IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT. WE MUCH STOP IT NOW!!!!

# 182:

1:36 pm PDT, Jul 27, Daphna Thier, New York

# 181:

12:51 pm PDT, Jul 27, John Gasperoni, ph.d., California

# 180:

11:47 am PDT, Jul 27, Sumayyah Waheed, California
This is a barbaric practice that must end immediately. Childbirth is traumatic enough without shackles incapacitating a woman.

# 179:

11:20 am PDT, Jul 27, Carol Strickman, California
Shackling pregnant prisoners is unnecessary and an assault to human dignity. California prisons have successfully implemented California's anti-shackling law for pregnant prisoners. New York can do the same.

# 178:

10:57 am PDT, Jul 27, Donna Bender, California

# 177:

10:01 am PDT, Jul 27, Shaka At-thinnin, California

# 176:

9:33 am PDT, Jul 27, Jeffrey O'Connell, New York

# 175:

8:12 am PDT, Jul 27, Name not displayed, North Carolina
The corrections officers that take the incarcerated woman to the hospital are already armed. There is no reason to shackle pregnant, non-violent offenders.

# 174:

8:07 am PDT, Jul 27, Carolyn Stanford, New York
These women cannot escape during child birth - to handcuff a person while giving life and bearing pain is the most unhuman thing I have ever heard of; it is the same to me as hanging a man or woman from a tree - where is she going?

# 173:

7:43 am PDT, Jul 27, Jane Burtis, California

# 172:

9:34 pm PDT, Jul 26, Name not displayed, California

# 171:

9:31 pm PDT, Jul 26, Jami Ochoa, California
This is probably the most painful and emotional time in a woman's life. At least let the unborn child have a stress less or close to a stress free birth given these circumstances. This child is innocent and deserves to come out with the mother concentrating on birth not shackles. Babies are completely innocent of any crimes the mother may have perpetrated.

# 170:

8:44 pm PDT, Jul 26, Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, Oregon

# 169:

7:32 pm PDT, Jul 26, Alan Goggins, California

# 168:

7:24 pm PDT, Jul 26, Irene Ziglina, New York
Who would've thought that the country that prides itself on being the world human rights watchdog would allow to such crimes to go unpunished! It would be all over the news had this report come from China or Russia. Outrageous and Disgusting. Who are those "guards" who carry out those inhumane orders? And how do they treat their families and friends? And how do they sleep at night?

# 167:

6:13 pm PDT, Jul 26, Name not displayed, California

# 166:

5:59 pm PDT, Jul 26, Lila Turner, Maryland
Sometimes I think I must be living in a third world dictatorship. Pregnancy and childbirth are a miracle. Stop punishing women in this horrific way. To shackle a woman during the delivery of her child is humiliating, demeaning, and sadistic. It is a special method of punishing a woman solely because of her gender. It is not at all for the purpose of anyone's safety; what do you think a woman in labor is going to do . . . stage a bank robbery? This is the kind of sick violence that is visited upon them by the state in the United States? I not-so-respectfully request that you cease this barbarism at once.

# 165:

5:50 pm PDT, Jul 26, Frederic Bender, Colorado

# 164:

5:39 pm PDT, Jul 26, Janice Van Slimming, California
If you have ever been present at a birth, you know that a woman in labor represents no security risk. And since most women are incarcerated for non-violent crimes, it makes even less sense to ever shackle them during labor. The shackling of any woman during child birth is tantamount to torture and should be abolished in any civilized country.

# 163:

5:32 pm PDT, Jul 26, Constance Rossum, California

# 162:

5:29 pm PDT, Jul 26, Beth Gallock, California
I am shocked and dismayed at the perverse policy to shackle women in prison while giving birth. As someone who has given birth three times and who has found even an external fetal monitor as something extremely constricting and horribly difficult to manage along with contractions and the incredible pain, I simply cannot imagine the effect shackles would have. I am also hard pressed to imagine what purpose such a restraint would serve. There are many things about our criminal justice system that I abhor, but I do recognize some measures are an unfortunate, yet necessary, effort to ensure safety. This, however, is not one of them. Do not shackle even one more woman during the sacred and extremely difficult process of labor.

# 161:

5:28 pm PDT, Jul 26, Anthony Fadale, California

# 160:

5:13 pm PDT, Jul 26, Name not displayed, Mississippi
The practice was clearly instituted by persons who have never given birth. This is unbelievably inhumane, cruel both physically and mentally.

# 159:

5:09 pm PDT, Jul 26, Dean Kendall, Pennsylvania

# 158:

3:53 pm PDT, Jul 26, Caroline Hugh, California

# 157:

2:25 pm PDT, Jul 26, Gail McCloud, Alabama

# 156:

2:14 pm PDT, Jul 26, Gail Young, California

# 155:

1:41 pm PDT, Jul 26, Francis Courser, California
I can't think of a more cruel act for both mother and child!

# 154:

1:29 pm PDT, Jul 26, Gloria NORTON, California
IT IS UBELIEVABLE IN THIS DAY AND AGE THAT ANYONE IS STILL SCHACKLING PREGANT WOMEN. SURELY THERE ARE HUMANE WAYS TO KEEP THESE WOMEN INCARCERATED WITHOUT TORTURING THEM. IF THIS WERE HAPPENING IN IRAN WE WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED, BUT WE WOULD BE HORRIFIED.

# 153:

1:10 pm PDT, Jul 26, Bonnie Long, California

# 152:

12:28 pm PDT, Jul 26, Judith E Moreland, New York

# 151:

11:59 am PDT, Jul 26, Emerald Woodland, California

View Signatures:
|<
<
224
150
100
50
>
>|