Yes, it is stunning that we are debating if we should continue to shackle a female inmate to a birthing table. Shackle! Having been in the room when both of our children were born and seeing the process, bringing an 8 pound baby into the world, the last thing on our minds was escaping. If any of you have seen or been through birthing, you know exactly what I’m talking about. How about this - why not just lock the door of the birthing room? This op-ed piece gets it right…barbaric.

 Take off the shackles

DON’T GIVE UP, Representative Sharon Dobbins. Your bill to take the shackles off pregnant inmates is the right thing to do, no matter what a state Senate committee says. Don’t forget that once upon a time using prisoners as contract laborers and arming trusties to guard other inmates was just fine with legislators, too. Of course, that was a long time ago, in Arkansas’ equivalent of the dark ages. Well, it seems it’s still dark at the state Senate. That Sharon Dobbins has to fight this battle in the first place is a shameful comment on the Arkansas of 2007.