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Shackling inmate in labor constitutional, court rules Saturday, Jul 19, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Prison corrections officers did not violate an Arkansas prison inmate's constitutional rights when they shackled her after she went into labor in 2003, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis reversed an Arkansas federal judge's decision that denied immunity to state Prison Director Larry Norris and prison security officer Patricia Turnesky in a lawsuit by Shawanna Nelson. Norris and Turnesky should be immune from the suit because the shackling of Nelson's hands and legs while she was in labor on Sept. 20, 2003, did not violate Nelson's Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment, the appellate court ruled. The shackling did not "rise to the level of unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain," Judge William Jay Riley wrote in the court's opinion Friday. The 8th Circuit also found that the defendants did not deliberately disregard Nelson's medical needs. "The record shows Nelson received adequate medical treatment, and when medical personnel requested the removal of the restraints, Officer Turnesky complied," Riley wrote for the court. Nelson was not shackled when she gave birth but was again placed in leg restraints after the delivery. In 2004, the state Department of Correction adopted a policy to avoid the use of restraints on pregnant inmates "to the extent possible" and use soft, cloth restraints when restraints are deemed necessary for security reasons. State Rep. Sharon Dobbins, D-North Little Rock, filed legislation last year that sought to make the policy state law. The bill passed in the House but died in a Senate committee. |
