How Can We Help Pregnant Women and Mothers in Prison?
Pregnant women prisoners in British hospitals, those in labor, and mothers during their postpartum stay were held in handcuffs and chained to prison officers until January 1996. The chains were finally taken off because of vigorous protest by a small group of activists in the childbirth and prison reform movements. Our determination to put a stop to this barbaric practice, introduced by a repressive Home Secretary, Michael Howard, as part of a Conservative promise to be tough on crime , was taken up by the media. Mothers in chains became front page news and made lead stories on TV. We briefed researchers in opposition political parties and as a result there were questions in Parliament. After 3 weeks of intense publicity it was announced that in future no woman would be chained in a prenatal clinic, during labor and birth, or while in hospital after the birth of her baby. But it is not enough to strike at the chains. The question is whether pregnant women and mothers and babies should
