{"id":26272,"date":"2021-02-04T14:28:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T14:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=d81b6fb2942b5ceaec50b483e3762cc6"},"modified":"2021-02-04T14:28:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T14:28:27","slug":"i-was-shackled-to-my-bed-after-giving-birth-then-they-took-my-baby-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/04\/i-was-shackled-to-my-bed-after-giving-birth-then-they-took-my-baby-away\/","title":{"rendered":"I Was Shackled to My Bed After Giving Birth. Then They Took My Baby Away."},"content":{"rendered":"\"A<\/a>
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I\u2019m R87914. Even though I\u2019m no longer in prison, that number, just like my social security number and name, will never change. I\u2019m also a proud mom and a new one at that. There were no balloons or cards, no flowers or family allowed in the delivery room at the time of my daughter Aniela\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n

The prison where I was incarcerated wouldn\u2019t allow mothers-to-be to go into labor naturally. Too inconvenient. Each birth was scheduled ahead of time. Mothers were not told until the morning of their scheduled labor day that they were being taken to the hospital and induced. Families of the women were not told until after the baby was born; a three-minute phone call was allowed after the birth, per discretion of the officer.<\/p>\n

During my 36 hours of labor, an officer would sit on the couch, and watch me, and make occasional small talk and sometimes even pretend like they cared. Their shift, just like any other person\u2019s, would end and eager to go home, they would leave, a new officer would walk in.<\/p>\n

Pregnant women in Illinois and a few other states are not allowed to be shackled, only handcuffed. I can\u2019t imagine having to waddle in shackles eight or nine months pregnant. But so many of the guards in Illinois complain about not being able to use the shackles during pregnancy.<\/p>\n

After birth, women can be shackled — regardless of any pain from stitches one may have, or the women with C-sections. Once the baby is born, all restraints are once again an option, per discretion of the officer.<\/p>\n

So, there I was. Still in tears, both from being happy and also in pain, with my first born in my arms, an officer still on the couch and my feet shackled to the hospital bed, all the time knowing that in less than 48 hours my daughter would be taken from my arms and I would be driven back to the prison, handcuffed and shackled the entire ride.<\/p>\n

I cried the whole drive back to the prison after I was pulled away from my daughter. I closed my eyes and just tried to keep seeing her face.<\/p>\n

Although I could not breastfeed my daughter, I was the first person in my prison to be able to pump milk while incarcerated. Before that, the Illinois Department of Corrections said that any kind of breastfeeding or pumping by inmates was out the question. They said a breast pump was a safety risk. But after a struggle, activists finally got the Department of Corrections to allow breast pumps in Logan Prison. Until I started last year, using a breast pump in an Illinois prison without the baby being at the facility had never been done.<\/p>\n