The Shackling of Incarcerated Pregnant Women: Analysis of Alternative Policy

Abstract

The shackling of pregnant incarcerated individuals, through restraints such as handcuffs, waist chains, and leg irons, is a dehumanizing practice that poses serious physical and mental health risks to both parent and child. This practice is disproportionately imposed on women of color, who are vastly overrepresented in the incarcerated population. Black women are three times more likely than white women to be incarcerated, and women overall represent the fastest-growing segment of the detained population, with an 800% increase over the last 30 years (American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU], 2007; Keyes, 2014). As the number of incarcerated women has grown, so too has the number of pregnancies and births occurring within carceral systems, making the absence of strong anti-shackling protections an urgent public health and civil rights concern. Despite well-documented health risks and widespread recognition of the practice’s discriminatory nature, many states maintain weak laws, and some have no laws, prohibiting the shackling of pregnant women (Bandele, 2017). This policy analysis paper exposes the discriminatory practice of shackling, specifically of marginalized pregnant populations in prison, and proposes steps toward ethical policy alternatives. Using the IRAC framework for legal policy analysis (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion), this paper examines shackling policies from U.S. regulations to global policies, and from the most humane laws to the most restrictive. From this, we developed concrete policy solutions. The proposed Resilient Mothers Act addresses the needs of the most marginalized—pregnant Black women experiencing incarceration—as a pathway toward broader equity and justice within prison reform efforts.