NY lawmakers want limits on shackling pregnant people after Brooklyn courtroom birth

A woman described being chained to a hospital bed during childbirth, with the shackle leaving cut marks and creating feelings of hurt, sadness, discouragement, loneliness, and helplessness. Pending state legislation seeks to improve treatment of pregnant people in custody. One bill would make it illegal in most cases to shackle pregnant people in police custody during labor, delivery, and post-birth recovery, and would strengthen protections for people in jail or prison. Other bills aim to improve access to prenatal care, nurseries, and medical supplies for pregnant and postpartum people in custody. A recent childbirth in arraignment court while in NYPD custody renewed attention on the stalled legislation, with officials stating restraints were removed once labor began.

"When Rebecca Figueroa gave birth to her fourth child, her right leg was chained to the hospital bed so tightly that the shackle left cut marks on her skin, she said. Figueroa, then in her twenties and addicted to drugs, was awaiting trial in Suffolk County on low-level charges that were ultimately dismissed, she said. Nineteen years later, she still tears up as she thinks about how lonely and helpless she felt in that moment."

"One bill would make it illegal in most cases to shackle pregnant people in police custody during labor, delivery and post-birth recovery. It would also strengthen existing protections against shackling people in jail or prison. Other pending legislation aims to improve access to prenatal care, nurseries and medical supplies for pregnant and postpartum people in custody."

"On May 15, Samantha Randazzo gave birth inside arraignment court while in NYPD custody after police arrested the nine-months-pregnant woman on a low-level drug charge. A public defender in the courtroom that night said Randazzo's hands were cuffed behind her back while she waited to be arraigned, but officials said the restraints were removed once it became clear she was in labor."

"Randazzo's case "puts a sharp focus" on why the legislation needs to pass, said Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal of Manhattan's West Side, who sponsored the anti-shackling bill. "[It] illustrates the consequences of not enacting it into law before now," she said. "It basically demands that we do.""

Read at Gothamist