From the Guardian · · 1m 20s
Indigenous woman shackled during labour in Queensland
An incarcerated Aboriginal woman was restrained to a hospital bed while giving birth, days after parliament blocked a bill to ban the practice.
In brief
An incarcerated Aboriginal woman was restrained to a hospital bed while giving birth, days after parliament blocked a bill to ban the practice. An Indigenous woman was shackled to a hospital bed during labour in Queensland while Labor and the Coalition blocked a bill to ban the practice. Originally reported by the…
Woman shackled during labour
An incarcerated Indigenous woman was shackled to a hospital bed in Queensland while in labour last weekend, according to advocacy group Sisters Inside.
Timing of the incident
The birth happened just days before Labor and the Coalition blocked a bill to ban the barbaric practice of shackling incarcerated women during childbirth.
Hospital staff's response
Debbie Kilroy, chief executive of Sisters Inside, said the woman gave birth via caesarean section to a premature baby and was shackled on and off since arriving.
“shackled on and off since she came into the hospital”
Staff tried to remove shackles
Hospital staff rang Sisters Inside after trying everything to get the shackles removed. They were even crying because prison staff would not remove them.
“They were even crying because prison staff wouldn't remove the shackles.”
Lidia Thorpe's bill and argument
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, introduced bills to ban shackling and stop children being strip-searched this week.
Parliament blocks the ban
Labor said criminal justice is a matter for states and territories. The Coalition said it understood the intent but would not support the bill's passage.
The headline
An Indigenous woman was shackled to a hospital bed during labour in Queensland while Labor and the Coalition blocked a bill to ban the practice.
