Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a new law expanding the prohibition on shackling pregnant inmates at prisons and county jails except in extraordinary circumstances and only with the written approval of a county sheriff or prison superintendent.
The ban includes transport and extends to eight weeks after the baby is delivered or pregnancy terminated.
In extraordinary circumstances, restraints are to be limited to handcuffs in front.
According to the governor's office, restraints are currently used in situations ranging from weekly trips to medical appointments to transport between prisons, posing a health risk to mother and child from blood clots and falling.
The law, effective immediately, prohibits correctional staff from the delivery room unless requested by the inmate or medical staff.
It requires notice to all women jailed in New York.
© 2015 AP
