After Giving Birth, These Women Were Placed in Handcuffs, Leg Irons, and Waist Chains
Crystal Degnitz’s daughter and Stephanie Reis’s son are three days apart. Both were born in August 2014 at the Westchester Medical Center, where their mothers shared a room. They’ve been in each other’s lives ever since.
This could be a story of any two new mothers meeting with one startling difference: both Degnitz and Reis were prisoners of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).
Both women went to prenatal visits in handcuffs, leg irons and a chain around their waist. Degnitz vividly remembers her fear of tripping, particularly in her third trimester. “There’s not much chain between the leg irons,” she explained. And after their babies were born, both women were again clapped in handcuffs, leg irons, and waist chains.
Reis recalled being fully shackled as she was escorted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to visit her son. Although the handcuffs and waist chain were removed inside the unit, she still remembers the embarrassment of walking down the hall in full restraints.
Both mothers are now out of prison, but neither has forgotten the dehumanizing feeling of being restrained. Now both have joined the fight to ensure that no other mother has that experience ever again.
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