NOW Actions on Shackling in RI and AZ

Yesterday, I sent out an email to the National NOW Presidents' listserv to let them know that the PA Department of Corrections had sent us most of their policy on shackling of pregnant women that we had requested. 

I later received emails from Rhode Island and Arizona on what's happening there.  Here's the text from those emails:

----- ARIZONA -----

Joanne,

Congratulations....Our state dept. of corrections has a policy against shackling. However, we in Phoenix have "The world's toughest sherriff (Joe Arpaio)" and the Maricopa County jail, which houses a very large population of undocumented immigrants who statutorily cannot be released on bail, routinely shackles pregnant prisoners during labor and delivery.

Thanks,
Eric Ehst
Arizona NOW

----- RHODE ISLAND -----

Congratulations to you and all of PA NOW! You're an inspiration for the work we're doing in this area in RI.

Laura Costa
RI NOW (Vice President)

and

Rhode Island is working on this issue as well. We filed a law suit with the ACLU and have only received redacted info from the Department of Corrections so far. We're also pushing legislation on this issue, so it'd be great to be in touch on this, and we'd love to see your materials.

Carolyn Mark
RI NOW (President)