Flailing Her Puerto Rican Ponytail

I was incarcerated during my third trimester. One guard shackled me around my ankles and wrists. When I tripped and fell they removed the shackles around my feet. Why did I need to fall before they realized that shackling my wrist and ankles when I’m 8 months pregnant was dangerous?

—

Deanne, incarcerated pregnant woman.

Today in California, pregnant women are shackled. In many of our jails and prisons, women as far along as 8-1/2 months have been held in shackles around their wrists, ankles and even their bellies. Though the vast majority of women are incarcerated for non-violent, non-serious crimes, they are routinely restrained even though it is dangerous for them and their babies.

Thanks to the hard work by Strong Families members and many allies including the Center for Young Women’s Development, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, the ACLU of Northern California, Critical Resistance and others, the barbaric practice of shackling pregnant women may finally end in California.

Both the California Assembly and Senate unanimously passed a bill (AB568) that would limit the use of restraints on incarcerated pregnant women throughout the state. We are one step away from making this bill a reality. Sign petition here: http://strongfamiliesmovement.org/campaign

(via mujerinterrumpida)