Ex-inmate sues sheriff over being chained during birth
Shackling policy called unconstitutional, danger to labor process
A former Milwaukee County Jail inmate whom deputies ordered to wear leg shackles before, during and after she gave birth in a hospital has sued the county and Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt over her ordeal.
According to Sandra Robles’ federal civil rights lawsuit, the chain between her feet was so short she couldn’t reach the stirrups when it came time to push during labor.
In addition, one hand was chained to the bed.
Deputies refused medical staff requests to remove Robles’ shackles at least during labor.
After she gave birth, Robles wore the shackles to the restroom, and the arm chain prevented her from having full skin contact with her newborn, she said.
An armed deputy was present for her entire hospital stay.
The lawsuit says the sheriff ’s office policy of shackling any inmate who visited a hospital was punitive, excessive in relation to “any legitimate purpose it allegedly serves,” and violated Robles’ rights under the 14th Amendment.
“Preventing walking during the first stage of labor may deny the woman the benefits of labor acceleration and discomfort alleviation,” the suit states.
“Preventing walking during the postpartum phase may enhance the risk of deep vein thrombosis and its life-threatening embolic complications.”
Robles, now 25, has two children and a job, according to her suit. Her attorneys at the Chicago law firm Loevy & Loevy, which represents other women in similar suits, did not return phone calls Wednesday.
Sheriff’s office spokesperson Fran McLaughlin did not return email about the case.
Robles has no criminal record in Milwaukee County under that name. Her lawsuit does not indicate her current residency, or why she was in the jail from mid-January to mid-March of 2014, or the name of the hospital where she gave birth Feb. 24 that year.
Back in 2007, the U.S. Marshals Service stopped using shackles on pregnant subjects unless specific facts made it necessary for security reasons.
The federal Bureau of Prisons also updated its policies to prevent shackling pregnant inmates during labor, delivery or post-delivery recuperation unless the inmate presented an immediate threat of escape or danger.
Prior lawsuits over the Milwaukee County sheriff ’s office policy of shackling all inmates during childbirth indicate some 45 women have endured the practice since 2011. One of the plaintiffs sought class-action status to represent all those women, but a federal judge in May declined to certify that class.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman found that the sheriff may have had specific reasons to constitutionally restrain some of the women, and a ruling that the restraints violated due process protections for the named plaintiff would not necessarily apply to all the other inmates who were shackled while delivering their babies.
Adelman’s decision suggests the sheriff’s office no longer requires all prisoners to be chained to beds for the duration of any and all medical treatment at a hospital.
Robles’ suit is at least the fourth one filed over births by inmates since 2014.