(London Guardian) Pregnant inmates will no longer give birth in shackles in North Carolina after a change in the state’s prison rules.
Prisons director Kenneth Lassiter has announced a new policy that will remove wrist restraints once an inmate is in labor unless she poses an immediate risk of escape or is a clear threat to herself or others. The use of leg or waist restraints will now also be stopped.
North Carolina joins 18 other states where legislation prohibits or restricts such shackling, although many of those laws are not properly implemented according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Of the 200,000 women in US prisons or jails each year, 6%, or 12,000, are pregnant when they are incarcerated, the ACLU reported.
