Female prisoners should not be routinely shackled during their pregnancy and in the delivery room while giving birth.

It is good policy for our criminal justice system to reflect appropriate concern for the safety and welfare of all of the Commonwealth's residents.  Unfortunately inappropriate restrictions continue to creep into our system including a burgeoning prisoner population, commercial enterprise in prison operations, 'supermax' facilities, extended solitary confinement, expansion of the death penalty through legislation and restraints on pregnant prisoners.

Pregnant residents in Virginia's correctional institutions are first people, then women and mothers; far lower in this hierarchy are the categories prisoner and criminal.  As people, women and mothers, an enlightened society demands treatment with dignity and compassion as equal children of God.  The practice of shackling female prisoners during childbirth is barbaric and certainly not the dignified and compassionate treatment that all persons, regardless of other status, demand.

Shackling presents health risks to both the mother and child.  The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Medical Association and United Nations all have condemned the practice due to health risks.  The practice does not mitigate threats to correctional officers.  Among the states tha have restricted restraints on pregnant inmates, none have documented instances of women in labor or delivery escaping or causing harm to themselves, the public, security guards or medical staff. 

One size fits all regulations are anacronistic.  Modern regulations consider the entire context of the situation for rule-making.  Shackling pregnant women during pregnancy and delivery smacks of the stocks and pillory.  Eliminate regulations prescribing shackles for pregnant women and provide for more dignified and humane security through access controls (walls, windows and doors) for pregnant prisoners.