Committee advances bill limiting shackling of pregnant inmates in local jails

The Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee voted unanimously to report House Bill 2,235, which would limit the use of restraints on pregnant and postpartum people incarcerated in local jails and extend protections similar to those already in place for people in Department of Corrections custody.

Delegate Cousins, the bill's patron, said the measure "greatly limit[s] the shackling of pregnant individuals" in jails during pregnancy, labor, delivery and the postpartum period and would allow an infant to remain with the mother until hospital discharge. "Shackling pregnant and postpartum women is not only emotionally traumatizing … it's also medically hazardous," Cousins said.

Anna Figueroa, a student in the State and Local Policy Clinic at UVA Law, explained differences between the bill and existing regulations and emphasized that staff could still use restraints when a person is deemed a danger or flight risk. "Even as this bill creates limits on shackling and restraining, it always gives jail staff the ability to use these restraints when they think a woman is a threat or a flight risk," Figueroa said.

Mike Edwards, representing the Association of Regional Jails, said the group had worked with the patron and was comfortable with the bill as amended.

The committee adopted technical amendments to remove instances of the word "substantial" and to conform language. The roll call to report the bill recorded 15 ayes and 0 no votes.