OLYMPIA, Wash. – A former Washington state prison inmate who says she was shackled during childbirth sued the state Thursday, saying her constitutional rights were violated.
Seattle-based women's rights organization Legal Voice filed the federal lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections on behalf of Casandra Brawley, who was four months pregnant when she was jailed at the Washington Corrections Center for Women near Gig Harbor in December 2006.
Brawley said she was shackled by a metal chain around her stomach during transportation to the hospital, then fastened by a leg iron to a hospital bed throughout several hours of labor.
The suit alleges her restraints were removed during an emergency cesarean section only after a physician insisted, but then were replaced after the procedure.
"Yeah, I've made some mistakes and wrong decisions," Brawley said Thursday of the shoplifting conviction that sent her to prison. "But I am still a person and I didn't feel like I should be treated like a caged animal." Read On...
FMI on rights of incarcerated women during pregnancy/labor visit: National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) or the Rebecca Project for Human Rights
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