Cruel and Unusual

A former client and subsequent friend called last night after too long a silence. It was great to talk with her. In the course of our conversation she asked if I'd seen this article about prisoners giving birth in shackles. I had not. Hey, I don't read the paper when I'm on vacation.

Anyway, can you believe that inmates often remain in leg restraints during labor? Sometimes they remain chained to a guard?

Typical of the corrections system, they view birth as a time of increased security risk (because we all know how fast laboring women can run) rather than a time of potential transformation for the mother.

I know this is my social liberalism (and class stereotyping) shining through, but it seems if anything could turn a woman from a path of crime, if would be rising above a lifetime of victimization and low self-esteem to have an empowering birth and successful bonding experience with her baby.

That can not happen if she moves through birth reminded at every moment of her sub-human stature in the penal system.