Prisoners forced to give birth handcuffed to male prison guards

The Equality Act 2010 allows for single-sex staff where it's a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. The prison companies could use that legal exemption to give imprisoned mothers the basic dignity of female warders during childbirth.

They used to. Now we have equal ops.

Wouldn't have happened in the 19th century - they were very hot on only having female warders for female prisoners. This is regression.

She clearly didn't read Matthew 9:1-8 and Mark 2:1-12, Matthew 9:10 and Mark 2:13, the list goes on...

But if the very act of locking up pregnant women drastically increases their risk in a pregnancy, surely we just need to stop doing that? At the very least it should be a last resort reserved for only cases where the woman is a threat to others safety.

The least they should do is have female prison guards with pregnant women. If they are in a locked room they can hardly run away or escape.

That poster has posted equally shitty things in the past. She’s a paediatric nurse and calls herself a Christian…. 🧐

Horrible, truly horrible.

There is so much evidence that prisoners can not access safe ante natal care and are in much greater danger in labour, I can see no other reasonable course of action than to stop imprisonment of women who are pregnant. There must be other ways of monitoring and safeguarding?

That poor girl who had to Labour alone in her cell because no one answered her call and then bit through to umbilical cord was on remand, I seem to recall charges were later dropped. The report into her case made it really clear that women in prison can not access care comparable to women in the community. And goodness knows sometimes even that falls short!

What on Earth?! Who thinks this is appropriate treatment and why? What's a woman in labour going to do that necessitates being handcuffed or shackled to anyone or anything? I could - maybe - understand if she was psychotic and liable to hurt herself/others if unrestrained, but in that case wouldn't you go for a c-section under GA? Otherwise, just no.

I'm rather glad I didn't see the now deleted posts as I'm sure from context that they would have been utterly lacking in humanity towards vulnerable women.

No, she was paroled before her due date and had to give birth with one of those ankle tags on.

In fact, didn't one of the wrongly-accused postmistresses have to give birth in prison?

Not everyone in prison has broken the law. Most recent example of miscarriage of justice being the Post Office/Horizon scandal. I’m sure attitudes like yours gave the sub-postmasters comfort. /s

as has been said previously, when someone receives a custodial sentence, the intended punishment is the deprivation of liberty. Not the cruel and inhumane conditions described while in jail. Prisoners are still human beings and it is the state’s responsibility to ensure they receive adequate housing, food, clothing and medical treatment.

ETA: The post I was replying to was deleted but I’m sure you can work out who I was addressing.

Surely they can wait outside the door? I'm sure a woman in labour isn't going to get far. It can't be pleasant for the prison staff either. I can't believe this is happening in 21st century Britain

Indeed. The Gaols Act 1823 and the Prisons Act 1835 were both passed before Queen Victoria ascended the throne. The Gaols Act required separate prisons for men and women, female warders in women's prisons, and banned the use of irons and shackles in women's prisons. The Prisons Act established prison inspectors to ensure that these rules were followed.

It is absolutely batshit that we have gone backwards on this by allowing male prison warders, allowing male prisoners as long as they claim to be trans, and are shackling mothers in labour.

Elizabeth Fry is doing a couple of thousand revolutions per minute in her grave right now.

Are you joking? There are plenty of studies which show that it is more harmful for both mother and baby. Plus, there is absolutely no need. No woman has ever escaped during labour!

I am disappointed that you have posted this. I'm never going to be able to read your posts on the Litter Tray again without remembering that you are OK with women being handcuffed to men whilst they give birth.

It can. If the mother is stressed and in needless pain, the baby will be stressed too because the baby can hear what's happening and cortisol crosses the placenta. If the mother is struggling to labour because she doesn't have free movement within the birth suite, for example to stand up or go on all-fours, that can harm the baby too because the baby isn't in the right position, can end up with umbilical cord around neck, etc.

1. Most women in prison are there for shoplifting, not murder.
2. Human rights are for all humans, not just the ones we like.
3. There's also an innocent baby involved who is at risk of harm.

Giving birth in medically-dangerous circumstances isn't a punishment, it's torture. A birthing woman needs to be able to move freely to minimise the risk of birth injuries.

Deprivation of liberty is the punishment, not this horrific treatment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-66339627.amp

Seems so.

Disgusting. Also extremely dumb, because the stress and resulting trauma do not just impact the mothers, but also the babies. This will affect the babies' brains longterm and cost society a lot of money to try to "fix".

I think even the Victorians would have thought twice about shackling a woman in labour to a guard. I thought we'd got past this after the hoo ha when Ann Widdecombe was Prisons Minister.