Calling the shackling of pregnant women “inhumane,” Memphis legislators are urging passage of a bill prohibiting pregnant inmates from being chained while held in prison or jail.

“We as Tennesseans cannot say that we care about others if we’re not willing to grant the most basic human right, which is to give birth and not be in shackles and chained to a bed while doing it,” said Senate Minority Chairman Raumesh Akbari during a Tuesday press conference.

Akbari, a Memphis Democrat sponsoring Senate Bill 1150, contended authorities should be trying to ensure the safety of the woman and the child during the “beautiful yet complicated” process of childbirth.

The legislation, sponsored in the House by Minority Leader Karen Camper of Memphis (HB1240), would restrict the use of restraints on pregnant inmates and require regular prenatal and postpartum medical care. It also would prohibit solitary confinement for pregnant inmates who have given birth within the past eight weeks.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said pregnant prisoners are escorted without being shackled or handcuffed “unless instructed by the captain or designee.”

Debra Fessenden, an assistant county attorney and legal adviser for the Sheriff’s Office, provided by email the standard operating procedure policy regarding shackling or restraining pregnant women in custody.

“After being informed by the Jail’s healthcare professional that an inmate is pregnant, she will be transported without the use of restraints of any kind. The captain or designee will make the decision to restrain the inmate if there is a security issue,’’ according to the policy.

The policy further states that if authorities deviate from the policy, they are required to get approval and guidance from a “medical authority based on if there is a documented serious security risk.”

Medical personnel will provide officers guidance about the use of restraints, but typically restraints will not be used “during labor, delivery of the child or post-partum recovery period,” the policy states.

If something changes, the policy states that officers have to contact their supervisor.

After giving birth and returning to jail, the policy states that “the officer will restrain the inmate for transporting.”

Shelby County officials said because of healthcare privacy regulations, they could not provide the number of pregnant women or girls in their custody at Shelby County Jail East or the county juvenile detention center.

Akbari said she doesn’t believe the matter is a problem with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office but is targeted at the Tennessee Department of Correction. A spokeswoman for the Department of Correction said, however, it does not shackle women during child birth.

A TDOC-provided copy of a TV that story details a woman's decision to give up her baby for adoption, and the video shows her ankle handcuffed to the delivery bed. TDOC spokeswoman Neysa Taylor said the woman's leg is cuffed to the bed but that the department does not use shackles on pregnant inmates.

Nevertheless, a woman who was shackled during childbirth while an inmate at the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office won a judgment against that county, and a federal lawsuit was filed against the Hamilton County jail for shackling pregnant inmates in 2014.

State Rep. London Lamar pointed out in the Tuesday press conference that 25 percent of women who are incarcerated are pregnant when arrested or have a baby within a year of being jailed. In that situation, they are more likely to have miscarriages, preterm birth and other childbirth problems, she said.

“A mother’s mistakes should not be held over the head of her child,” Lamar said.

The first-year Memphis Democrat noted women who are giving childbirth are already unable to move, precluding the need to be shackled.

“If the woman is not a threat during labor, the shackles have become a way to dehumanize her instead of protecting her and her child,” Lamar said.

Furthermore, children born while their mother is in prison experience psychological and mental problems, and shackling the mother during labor can only “exacerbate” the situation, Lamar said.

Lamar and others who spoke also noted the shackling of pregnant women disproportionately affects women of color and is a violation of their human and civil rights.

Dawn Harrington, executive director of Free Hearts, which is supporting the legislation along with ACLU-TN and Healthy and Free Tennessee, pointed out the courts decided in the 2013 Davidson County case that the practice of shackling women during childbirth is wrong because authorities showed “indifference” to the woman’s medical needs. Yet, she said, the practice continues across Tennessee.

“Pregnant incarcerated women are recognized as one of the most vulnerable populations of women in our state,” she said.

The practice of shackling women is “barbaric” and “eerily reminiscent” of slavery, Harrington added.

Tennessee already has a furlough law that takes into consideration the needs of a mother and child and provides up to a six-month release for the woman to give birth and bond with the baby, she said.

“If we as a state can agree to that, we as a state can agree to end this practice” of shackling women, Harrington said.