Prisoners forced to give birth handcuffed to male prison guards

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/pregnant-women-prison-birth-handcuffed-male-officers-5f0698ks8#Echobox=1740164394-3

Horrific.

'At least two women have come forward over incidents that occurred at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey between 2021 and 2023, with a number of other women also understood to have been affected. Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, who are representing the women, have described it a systematic issue inside the largest female prison in Europe.
The women allege they were handcuffed to male officers, sometimes during antenatal appointments and intimate vaginal examinations, as well as during labour.
One prisoner said she was held in restraints during antenatal appointments and for 48 hours while in labour, at points attached to male staff.
“Being handcuffed and without any privacy, including being chained to a male prison officer, made me feel humiliated and degraded,” she told The Times. “Yes, I had broken the law, but I was still a pregnant woman. I feel I was treated as less than an animal.”'

https://archive.ph/Gk804

Grim, and awful for the prison officers too.

They probably told her she was lucky not to have to give birth in her cell.

This is disgusting.

Horrific way to treat a pregnant woman. Giving birth is stressful enough without being handcuffed and having no say on who is in the room with you. There has got to be a better more humane way of meeting the needs of pregnant women in the prison estate.

Jeez, are we in the Nineteenth century?

That's grim. Surely they could have birth suites within the prison and the equivalent of a "home birth".
Nobody should have to endure that.

It's a full on medical procedure. A woman in labour is hardly going to do a runner

1996 Ministers admitted no escape in such circumstances had happened despite Prison Service defence of practice.

https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1996/jan/09/holloway-prison

But 2001 incident seems to be part of scant history that supports it - overlooking scant resources.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/may/15/prisonsandprobation.society

I would be surprised if resources and humanity have improved. There are times when the arc of progress doesn’t seem to bring all along with in an equitable fashion.

I'm hoping the promises for a massive overhaul/rethink of women's prisons from Shabana Mahmood will come to something.

Such an awful story.

I remember reading stories about women giving birth, shackled to BEDS in the 90s and the outrage over it. I was under the impression that it had been stopped. I didn't realise that it had been replaced with an even worse practice.

Fucking hell

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/womens-justice-board

https://womeninprison.org.uk/news/women-in-prison-respond-to-lord-chancellors-landmark-announcement-on-justice

Wee bit on the creation of the Women's Justice Board, aiming to reduce the number of women in prison, and improve conditions.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/womens-justice-board-begins-plans-to-send-fewer-women-to-prison

Looks potentially promising.

'Women’s Justice Board starts vital work today to make our streets safer
Aims to reduce number of women in prison, cut reoffending, and better support children
Two-thirds of women prisoners report being victims of domestic abuse
Estimated 17,000 children affected when mum goes to prison every year'

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.

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.

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.

How original... yawn

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.

Prisoners ARE human.

People who abuse humans are INhumane.

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?

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.

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

Off you pop