“I felt like I was being mentally tortured during my labour,” says Joanna. “I kept saying to the prison guards ‘please can you take the handcuffs off’. But they were just laughing and joking about the next holiday they were going to go on. I was showering handcuffed while I was in labour and felt so degraded I couldn’t stop sobbing.”
Reporting by The Guardian and advocacy of the charity Birth Companions highlights the concerning use of instruments of restraint on people during pregnancy and labour in England. This raises serious concerns under international human rights law.
The prohibition on such use of restraints is clear.
The UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the “Bangkok Rules”) and the United Nations (UN) Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the “Nelson Mandela Rules”) state:
“Instruments of restraint shall never be used on women during labour, during birth and immediately after birth.”
Failure to abide by these standards may breach binding obligations under international law, including the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
It is time to end this unlawful practice and to ensure that the voices of the people subjected to it are heard and that they receive full redress.
Learn more:
For further information on instruments of restraint and the international standards governing their use, see the Handbook on Handcuffs and Other Instruments of Restraint in Court Hearings, available to download here.
More information on types of restraints is available on the dedicated page.