Shackles

A truly outstanding letter in the Post-Gazette today about shackling women prisoners during labor and delivery. By "outstanding" I mean so idiotic in its reasoning that the writer, Ann Hartman, should be forced to endure what she has the nerve to suggest.

A little background: Allegheny County's official policy is to shackle, with leg restraints, any prisoner admitted to a hospital or other medical facility. According to the procedural manual, there are no exceptions to the rule.

The consequence of this rule is that pregnant women are handcuffed by one wrist to the bed during labor and delivery. In an interesting observation, it seems that male deputies are more likely to shackle women in labor than female deputies. Once Allegheny County Sheriff Pete DeFazio was notified by the Post-Gazette, he ordered a halt to the practice.

Enter Ann Hartman.

To quote from her letter: "As a woman who has given birth, I do not think the shackles should restrict movement, but that can be accomplished by loosely chaining the wrist to the bedrail".

Really? Then I'm sure she'll be happy to have her wrist "loosely" chained to the bed during her next labor.

Why do women in childbirth deserve this?
Because: "These women have shown disrespect for the law and societal values".

Umm, Ann? You know for a fact that all of women have been tried and convicted of the crimes they are being held for? I know that this may be a foreign notion, but some people are unable to meet a condition called bail and have to remain in prison until their trial.

Oh, and there is an annoying little document known in more literate circles as the Constitution? You might want to go back and review the Eighth Amendment. Shackling a woman in labor to a bed rail strikes me as being a touch too cruel and unusual. I acknowledge that our current leadership does not set much store by the Constitution, since they are so busy creating their own realities. It is logical to think that if the current president believes it is ok to hold people in gulags indefinitely without trial, then shackling a woman in labor is a minor offense.

Wow. If that is not a textbook case example of punishing a child for the sins of the mother, I'm not sure what would be an adequate example.

I bet she identifies as a pro-life conservative. Something about the parting shot she took at the ACLU and Amnesty International for not protecting "those whose lives are potentially in jeopardy when handling prisoners" makes me wonder.