TITLE 20

STATE PRISON AND COUNTY JAILS

CHAPTER 9

RESTRAINT OF PREGNANT PRISONERS

20-902.  Restrictions on restraint of pregnant prisoners — extraordinary circumstance. (1) A correctional institution shall not use restraints of any kind on a prisoner known to be pregnant during labor and delivery, except as provided in subsection (2) of this section.

(2)  In an extraordinary circumstance, where a corrections official makes an individualized determination that restraints are necessary to prevent a prisoner from escaping or from injuring herself or medical or correctional personnel, such a prisoner or detainee may be restrained, provided that:

(a)  If the doctor, nurse or other health professional treating the prisoner requests that restraints not be used, the corrections officer accompanying the prisoner shall immediately remove all restraints; and

(b)  Under no circumstances shall leg or waist restraints be used on any prisoner during labor or delivery.

(3)  If restraints are used on a prisoner pursuant to subsection (2) of this section:

(a)  Both the type of restraint applied and the application of the restraint must be done in the least restrictive manner necessary; and

(b)  The corrections official shall make written findings within ten (10) days as to the extraordinary circumstance that dictated the use of the restraints. As part of this documentation, the corrections official must also include the kind of restraints used and the reasons those restraints were considered the least restrictive available and the most reasonable under the circumstances. These findings shall be kept on file by the institution for at least five (5) years and be made available for public inspection, except that no information identifying any individual prisoner or detainee shall be made public under the provisions of this section without the prisoner or detainee’s prior written consent.

History:

[20-902, added 2011, ch. 223, sec. 1, p. 610.]