Dolan Prison Visit

A baby recreation area at the women-only Taconic Correctional Facility in Bedford Hills, N.Y., Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

(AP)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A new survey of female prisoners shows 23 of 27 who gave birth while serving sentences say they were restrained during labor, a violation of state law, The New York Times reports.

Columnist Jim Dwyer talks with one of the women: Tina Tinen claims she was restrained shortly before and after giving birth by prison officials at a hospital. If true, that would violate a 2009 law prohibiting the shackling of female prisoners during labor, delivery and just after delivery.

The state's top prison official, Anthony Annucci, is taking the situation seriously and has promised to investigate. But he says it's hard to square the survey's results with prison records and the absence of any complaints from prisoners and advocacy groups during the time period.

From the story:

"I have not heard one iota of complaint along these lines until that report came out," Mr. Annucci said. But he wondered how it was possible that no word of such actions had reached him, since female prisoners in Bedford Hills have a broad range of contacts with people not employed by the state -- community organizations that provide support and education for new mothers, for instance.

The survey was included in a report issued in February by the Correctional Association of New York, a private organization that inspects the state's prisons.

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