page_title: Use of restraints on pregnant women
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Use of restraints on pregnant women / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Pair of standard legirons made in Taiwan
context_page_description: The use of shackles or restraints on pregnant women is still a common practice in prisons and jails in the United States. Shackling is defined as "using any physical restraint or mechanical device to control the movement of a prisoner's body or limbs, including handcuffs, leg shackles, and belly chains". For females, shackles or handcuffs are placed around the ankles, wrists, or around the stomach. The shackling of pregnant women occurs while they are transported within a facility, transported to a hospital, and/or during and after childbirth. Restraints are also used on detained pregnant women in immigration detention facilities.
  Pregnant women and babies under correctional custody have unique healthcare needs. These needs are often not addressed by most custody policies, which may put these women and babies at risk. In custody, there is a typical lack of routine prenatal care and adequate nutrition. There is also a risk of experiencing physical and emotional abuse, mental health issues, and untreated sexually transmitted infections.
context_section_description: There continues to be a disproportionately higher percentage of males than females incarcerated across the United States. In 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found the correctional population in the United States to be 8.7% women or 198,600 of the 2,292,133 incarcerated persons. Male inmates in general also have more violent criminal histories and are more likely to be serving time for violent offenses than their female counterparts. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported, "Women are substantially more likely than men to be serving time for a drug offense and less likely to have been sentenced for a violent crime." Accordingly, men are twice as likely as women to be violent recidivists, while women account for only fourteen percent of violent offenses and three of four violent female offenders commit simple assault.
  Due to the disproportionately higher incarceration rates of violent male offenders to female offenders, many across the international rights community agree prisons have predominantly been designed to control male inmates, particularly those who are violent. For these reasons, there is much controversy surrounding the use of shackles on women in general, and pregnant women in particular. Adding to the controversy is the issue of race. Since there is a disproportionately higher rate of women of color incarcerated across the United States, a greater number of African-American and Hispanic women are disproportionately affected.
caption: Standard leg shackles
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