(VIDEO in Spanish): Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Forces Woman to Give Birth While Shackled
December 1, 2009 - 7:00am (Print)
This article was originally published at Latina.com.
The news team for Telemundo 52 recently reported on Alma Minerva Chacon, a woman who was terrorized by Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Unfortunately, she is just the latest in a long line of Latinos who have suffered at the hands of the ruthless Sheriff whose personal goal is to rid Arizona of all "illegals" and just maybe, all Latinos. Arpaio has repeatedly stated that he is breaking no laws and just enforcing the constitution by arresting more than 600 Latinos a year. But the problem with his tactics is that less than half of those arrested are even in this country illegally.
The most recent atrocity committed by the self-proclaimed "America's Toughest Sheriff" involves a woman who was detained while 9-months pregnant. Alma Minerva Chacon's case has been receiving media attention due to the brutality with which she was treated. The very same night of her arrest, Chacon went into labor and found herself afraid and alone, being rushed to a local hospital with her hands and legs chained in shackles.
Once she reached the hospital, nurses repeatedly begged the Sheriff's staff to allow them to unchain the mother, but they refused and Chacon was forced to give birth while still shackled to the bed. At one point, the nurse asked for them to release her so that she could be escorted to the bathroom for a urinalysis, but even that request was denied. But the worst came once Chacon gave birth to her baby girl.
Still chained to the bed, Arpaio's police staff refused to allow Chacon to hold her newborn baby and then warned her that if no one came to pick up the child within 72 hours, she would be turned over into state custody. Telemundo 52 sat down with Chacon and let her tell her side of the story. Check out the interview below and if you don't support Sheriff Arpaio's barbaric practices sign the petition at www.SheriffJoeMustGo.com:
The following Telemundo report is in Spanish.
This and other disgusting but true news about women and incarceration can be found at www.realcostofprisons.org/blog/
Sheriff Arsehole... erm, pardon me, Arpaio has been committing human rights abuses for far, far too long, but this latest push into dehunmanizing and arresting people for the crime of "breathing while Hispanic" is beyond reprehensible. I cannot comprehend being shackled in labor, a time when a woman needs to be unencumbered to find a position that is safest and most comfortable for her and her baby to progress, then to not even be permitted to see your own newborn! Aren't we supposed to be in a country which prides itself on humane treatment? Instead we punish women doubly who end up in the justice system. What happened to due process... or even basic human decency.
