Prisoners forced to give birth handcuffed to male prison guards

Don’t be so stupid. Being handcuffed to a male whilst in labour will increase stress hormones coursing through the body, which will in turn affect the unborn baby.
Having your movement restricted could lead to issues in the safe delivery of a baby.
Why don’t you try to stop being a hateful person and look at the bigger picture.

With the caveat that I have never been in labour myself, so my view of it is formed by TV etc. I should have thought being shackled to anyone or anything would be extremely painful when the body is being subject to violent involuntary movements. We don't put people in prison to torture them.

Don't be silly. Of course it does. What happens to the mother happens to the baby before the birth. If the mother is under great stress it can affect the progress of the labour and increase the risk of harm to both mother and baby.

Really? Have a look at the main reasons women are in prison for.

Makes no difference to the baby if mum is handcuffed to a guard.

Even if you have no empathy at all for the women (which is pretty worrying in itself) why would you wish harm to the baby who has no choice over where it is born? The mind boggles.

Even if someone has committed a crime, I still believe they should be treated with dignity especially with regards to pregnancy and birth...if you don't, that speaks volumes.

But what about if someone was falsely accused of something and awaiting trial on remand....?

Was going to say the same.

How is that legal?! I feel a letter to the MoJ coming on...

Well do jog on and leave the sensible, intelligent discussion to the grown ups...

Off you pop

I don’t agree with it, but it may be to protect the medical staff in the room with the prisoner. Of course, that risk can be assessed on a case by case basis taking the nature of the crime and drug dependency into consideration.

I doubt many women are in prison for murder...I don't know the stats but it is likely to pretty low. Many women in prison will have been victims of abuse, often growing up in care.

Don't you think prisoners should have basic human rights? What about the babies the women are pregnant with? Do you not think they deserve to have a decent, safe, healthy entry into this world?

Prisoners ARE human.

People who abuse humans are INhumane.

I recently watched https://www.cleanbreak.org.uk/productions/scenes-from-lost-mothers/ and it was shocking and heartbreaking in equal measure. I had no idea that these practices were still continuing. The lack of humanity and the trauma that the mothers have to endure. I also had never considered the prison officers who are left to try and support mothers who have gone through the pain of having their baby removed from them - they are not trained or equipped to deal with that level of trauma.

The vast majority of women who are in prison are there for non-violent offences. Prison is not a safe place for a pregnant woman, or a baby. Many other countries do not routinely imprison pregnant women - they look at alternative methods of punishment.

How original... yawn

This is appalling, but I'm not surprised.

I know someone who was in Bronzefield for a few months, a couple of years ago. She wasn't pregnant, thankfully, but told me that she was kept permanently short of food. The only way to get enough food was to earn wages through doing jobs in the prison, and then she could only buy limited food items, things like chocolate bars, rather than nutritious food. The actual meals were not adequate for her daily needs, either in terms of calories/amount of food, or nutrition. She came out a couple of stone lighter than she went in, and she wasn't overweight to begin with, I wouldn't have thought. I shudder to think about a pregnant woman's needs and how she and her baby would fare on such rations.

Then to hear that women are being made to give birth while shackled to a male prison officer. Why? Most of the female prison population are incarcerated for minor crimes and would not be a danger to society in the rare event one absconded.

This is neither humane nor proportionate.

This is appalling. It is not correct medical care at all if anyone questions it. There’s no medical guidelines that allow people to be chained. What a disgrace. These women and babies should be treated like all other women and babies. Being in such stress and not free to move must create bad outcomes. Unacceptable.

It's disgusting...I heard a piece on the radio recently about the issue of pregnant women in prisons....one thing that I found really upsetting was one mention of a pregnant woman feeling hungry and also not having appropriately sized clothing. Just such basic things....I can't even imagine how awful it must be. It seems totally unnecessary too that women should be handcuffed ...why can't a prison officer not just stand outside the door of the room she's giving birth in? It's just obscene.

Fucking hell