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Pregnant prisoner chained up in hospital 24 hours a day
Inmate shackled to guards as she washed and slept
Prison service and private security firm admit errors
Lee Glendinning
The Guardian, Monday April 28 2008
Alexander McLeish, whose daughter is a pregnant prisoner, is furious she was
shackled while in hospital
A prisoner who was admitted to hospital after serious complications during
her pregnancy was shackled to a security officer on a metre-long chain while
she slept, showered and used the toilet.
Donna McLeish, 21, an inmate at Cornton Vale, the women's prison in
Stirling, was also placed under 24-hour surveillance by three guards from
private security firm Reliance during a separate hospital visit despite the
fact she was only able to walk using crutches at the time.
McLeish, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced in January to two years
in prison for assault following a glass attack on a woman at a nightclub.
She told of being handcuffed to the Reliance officer when she was admitted
to hospital in March with a blood clot on the placenta.
Gerard Sweeney, McLeish's solicitor, yesterday confirmed his client was
considering legal action against Reliance and said he feared for her health.
"When I visited Miss McLeish in hospital she was sitting on the bed and
there were two Reliance officers, one male and one female. I was quite
surprised to see this. Miss McLeish told me she was chained to one of the
officers for a 24-hour period, including when she was showering, when the
chain would be passed under the shower curtain. It was a big long chain more
than a metre, attached to the officer's wrist.
"When she was toileting she was still chained and when she was sleeping she
was chained too. Obviously I thought that was just outrageous. I spoke to
the officers and they confirmed it. Most startlingly, the security officers
were present during clinical examinations male and female officers."
Link to this audio
Professor Sheila Kitzinger campaigns to stop the shackling of pregnant
prisoners
Reliance, which has been fined in the past for having prisoners escape on
its watch, said in a statement yesterday: "We have recently modified our
procedures in agreement with the Scottish Prison Service [SPS] to ensure
that pregnant female prisoners are not handcuffed at any stage of their
transportation to hospital or their stay in hospital."
"We did have a case in March where a pregnant female prisoner was mistakenly
handcuffed when a risk assessment showed that was unnecessary. The cuffs
were removed, and an apology was made."
McLeish is understood to have detailed her experiences in a letter to the
SPS. The SPS said yesterday it was unable to say how long she had been kept
in chains but conceded it was a mistake.
"Absolutely there was a mistake for which we have apologised," said a
spokesman, Tom Fox. "There are procedures for heavily pregnant females which
state that they are not to be under the same sort of restraints as other
prisoners."
Yesterday McLeish's father Alex told the Guardian he had seen his daughter
attached to the chain.
He said: "I don't want or expect her to have five-star treatment but I just
would like her health and safety to be looked after and for her to have a
bit of dignity."
guardian.co.uk Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/28/prisonsandprobation.justice
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McLeish, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced in January to two years
in prison for assault following a glass attack on a woman at a nightclub.
He said: "I don't want or expect her to have five-star treatment but I just
would like her health and safety to be looked after and for her to have a
bit of dignity."
IANAL
Given her violent history, the staff were probably grateful !
You can only hope her victim doesn't suffer the indignity of scarring
as a result of the attack.
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Zolpitald wrote:
Pregnant prisoner chained up in hospital 24 hours a day
=EF=BF=BD Inmate shackled to guards as she washed and slept
=EF=BF=BD Prison service and private security firm admit errors
Note this, though:
"McLeish, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced in January to
two years in prison for assault following a glass attack on a woman at
a nightclub. She told of being handcuffed to the Reliance officer when
she was admitted to hospital in March with a blood clot on the
placenta."
My reaction is 'tough!". She had no respect for the victim she
nastily assaulted so why should her family expect her to be treated
with dignity now.
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peterwn wrote:
Zolpitald wrote:
Note this, though:
"McLeish, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced in January to
two years in prison for assault following a glass attack on a woman at
a nightclub. She told of being handcuffed to the Reliance officer when
she was admitted to hospital in March with a blood clot on the
placenta."
My reaction is 'tough!". She had no respect for the victim she
nastily assaulted so why should her family expect her to be treated
with dignity now.
What harm has keeping her on a chain done? She has been violent and may be
again. I feel sorry for the guards.
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peterwn wrote:
What harm has keeping her on a chain done? She has been violent and may
be again. I feel sorry for the guards.
Hannibal Lecter she isn't.
But feel sorry for the guards if you like. You might want to send them some
money too.
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"Colin Wilson" <REMOVEEVERYTHINGBUTnewsgroup@phoenixbbsZEROSPAM.co.uk> wrote
in message news:MPG.227f9d9ea0f065659896f3@news.motzarella.org...
McLeish, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced in January to two
years
in prison for assault following a glass attack on a woman at a nightclub.
He said: "I don't want or expect her to have five-star treatment but I
just
would like her health and safety to be looked after and for her to have a
bit of dignity."
IANAL
Given her violent history, the staff were probably grateful !
Oh, I bet they were grateful, especially the male security staff, to be
given the opportunity to watch her taking a shower and to watch her having
intimate physical examinations. It must be boring to be a security officer.
You can only hope her victim doesn't suffer the indignity of scarring
as a result of the attack.
But I daresay your thoughtfulness would quickly evaporate were you to learn
that the victim also had a history of violence.
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The Todal wrote:
"Colin Wilson" <REMOVEEVERYTHINGBUTnewsgroup@phoenixbbsZEROSPAM.co.uk> wrote
in message news:MPG.227f9d9ea0f065659896f3@news.motzarella.org...
McLeish, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced in January to two
years
in prison for assault following a glass attack on a woman at a nightclub.
He said: "I don't want or expect her to have five-star treatment but I
just
would like her health and safety to be looked after and for her to have a
bit of dignity."
Oh, I bet they were grateful, especially the male security staff, to be
given the opportunity to watch her taking a shower and to watch her having
intimate physical examinations. It must be boring to be a security officer.
Yep, I expect that the view from the other side of the curtain/door was
really something.
But I daresay your thoughtfulness would quickly evaporate were you to learn
that the victim also had a history of violence.
Nope. Nor added to by the typical causes of placental abruption.
But I see no reason why a criminal should be treated any differently
depending on whether they are male or female.
Or if the reason they are in hospital is linked to their female bits
rather than their male bits.
--
Sue
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The Todal wrote:
Yep, I expect that the view from the other side of the curtain/door was
really something.
Nope. Nor added to by the typical causes of placental abruption.
But I see no reason why a criminal should be treated any differently
depending on whether they are male or female.
Or if the reason they are in hospital is linked to their female bits
rather than their male bits.
The Americans like to keep most of their prisoners in shackles which are
worn at every opportunity in order to inflict humiliation. Presumably the
pretence is that a prisoner without shackles might start hitting the prison
officers, simply for the hell of it.
A glass attack on another person is no doubt a nasty crime, but nevertheless
a trivial one by today's standards. Nobody ought to be kept in chains whilst
in hospital, whether they are male or female, unless perhaps they are
dangerous terrorists.
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On 28 Apr, 07:47, Zolpitald <zsorbit...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
Pregnant prisoner chained up in hospital 24 hours a day
=B7 Inmate shackled to guards as she washed and slept
=B7 Prison service and private security firm admit errors
Lee Glendinning
The Guardian, Monday April 28 2008
Alexander McLeish, whose daughter is a pregnant prisoner, is furious she w=
as
shackled while in hospital
A prisoner who was admitted to hospital after serious complications during=
her pregnancy was shackled to a security officer on a metre-long chain whi=
le
she slept, showered and used the toilet.
Donna McLeish, 21, an inmate at Cornton Vale, the women's prison in
Stirling, was also placed under 24-hour surveillance by three guards from
private security firm Reliance during a separate hospital visit despite th=
e
fact she was only able to walk using crutches at the time.
McLeish, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced in January to two yea=
rs
in prison for assault following a glass attack on a woman at a nightclub.
She told of being handcuffed to the Reliance officer when she was admitted=
to hospital in March with a blood clot on the placenta.
Gerard Sweeney, McLeish's solicitor, yesterday confirmed his client was
considering legal action against Reliance and said he feared for her healt=
h.
"When I visited Miss McLeish in hospital she was sitting on the bed and
there were two Reliance officers, one male and one female. I was quite
surprised to see this. Miss McLeish told me she was chained to one of the
officers for a 24-hour period, including when she was showering, when the
chain would be passed under the shower curtain. It was a big long chain mo=
re
than a metre, attached to the officer's wrist.
"When she was toileting she was still chained and when she was sleeping sh=
e
was chained too. Obviously I thought that was just outrageous. I spoke to
the officers and they confirmed it. Most startlingly, the security officer=
s
were present during clinical examinations male and female officers."
Link to this audio
Professor Sheila Kitzinger campaigns to stop the shackling of pregnant
prisoners
Reliance, which has been fined in the past for having prisoners escape on
its watch, said in a statement yesterday: "We have recently modified our
procedures in agreement with the Scottish Prison Service [SPS] to ensure
that pregnant female prisoners are not handcuffed at any stage of their
transportation to hospital or their stay in hospital."
"We did have a case in March where a pregnant female prisoner was mistaken=
ly
handcuffed when a risk assessment showed that was unnecessary. The cuffs
were removed, and an apology was made."
McLeish is understood to have detailed her experiences in a letter to the
SPS. The SPS said yesterday it was unable to say how long she had been kep=
t
in chains but conceded it was a mistake.
"Absolutely there was a mistake for which we have apologised," said a
spokesman, Tom Fox. "There are procedures for heavily pregnant females whi=
ch
state that they are not to be under the same sort of restraints as other
prisoners."
Yesterday McLeish's father Alex told the Guardian he had seen his daughter=
attached to the chain.
He said: "I don't want or expect her to have five-star treatment but I jus=
t
would like her health and safety to be looked after and for her to have a
bit of dignity."
guardian.co.uk =A9 Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/28/prisonsandprobation.jus...
An alternative interpretation of perhaps otherwise unwarranted
shackling of prisoners in hospital might be that it prevents at least
one prison officer from escaping by going out for a fag.
j
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The Todal <deadmailbox@beeb.net> posted
A glass attack on another person is no doubt a nasty crime, but nevertheless
a trivial one by today's standards.
A glassing - trivial? Absolute nonsense.
Nobody ought to be kept in chains whilst
in hospital, whether they are male or female, unless perhaps they are
dangerous terrorists.
No, unless they are dangerous, or likely to try and escape.
--
Les Invalides
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On Apr 28, 2:47=A0am, Zolpitald <zsorbit...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
Pregnant prisoner chained up in hospital 24 hours a day
=B7 Inmate shackled to guards as she washed and slept
=B7 Prison service and private security firm admit errors
Lee Glendinning
The Guardian, Monday April 28 2008
Alexander McLeish, whose daughter is a pregnant prisoner, is furious she w=
as
shackled while in hospital
A prisoner who was admitted to hospital after serious complications during=
her pregnancy was shackled to a security officer on a metre-long chain whi=
le
she slept, showered and used the toilet.
Donna McLeish, 21, an inmate at Cornton Vale, the women's prison in
Stirling, was also placed under 24-hour surveillance by three guards from
private security firm Reliance during a separate hospital visit despite th=
e
fact she was only able to walk using crutches at the time.
McLeish, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced in January to two yea=
rs
in prison for assault following a glass attack on a woman at a nightclub.
She told of being handcuffed to the Reliance officer when she was admitted=
to hospital in March with a blood clot on the placenta.
Gerard Sweeney, McLeish's solicitor, yesterday confirmed his client was
considering legal action against Reliance and said he feared for her healt=
h.
"When I visited Miss McLeish in hospital she was sitting on the bed and
there were two Reliance officers, one male and one female. I was quite
surprised to see this. Miss McLeish told me she was chained to one of the
officers for a 24-hour period, including when she was showering, when the
chain would be passed under the shower curtain. It was a big long chain mo=
re
than a metre, attached to the officer's wrist.
"When she was toileting she was still chained and when she was sleeping sh=
e
was chained too. Obviously I thought that was just outrageous. I spoke to
the officers and they confirmed it. Most startlingly, the security officer=
s
were present during clinical examinations male and female officers."
Link to this audio
Professor Sheila Kitzinger campaigns to stop the shackling of pregnant
prisoners
Reliance, which has been fined in the past for having prisoners escape on
its watch, said in a statement yesterday: "We have recently modified our
procedures in agreement with the Scottish Prison Service [SPS] to ensure
that pregnant female prisoners are not handcuffed at any stage of their
transportation to hospital or their stay in hospital."
"We did have a case in March where a pregnant female prisoner was mistaken=
ly
handcuffed when a risk assessment showed that was unnecessary. The cuffs
were removed, and an apology was made."
McLeish is understood to have detailed her experiences in a letter to the
SPS. The SPS said yesterday it was unable to say how long she had been kep=
t
in chains but conceded it was a mistake.
"Absolutely there was a mistake for which we have apologised," said a
spokesman, Tom Fox. "There are procedures for heavily pregnant females whi=
ch
state that they are not to be under the same sort of restraints as other
prisoners."
Yesterday McLeish's father Alex told the Guardian he had seen his daughter=
attached to the chain.
He said: "I don't want or expect her to have five-star treatment but I jus=
t
would like her health and safety to be looked after and for her to have a
bit of dignity."
guardian.co.uk =A9 Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/28/prisonsandprobation.jus...
<A HREF=3D"http://www.prepaidlegal.com/info/michaelsaul"><img
src=3D"http://www.prepaidlegal.com/images/AssocsOnly/banner_ads/
468coffee.gif" border=3D0></A>
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In message
<a202574c-6727-4e53-9d50-a11483d8d371@q27g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
peterwn <peterwn@paradise.net.nz> writes
Zolpitald wrote:
Note this, though:
"McLeish, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced in January to
two years in prison for assault following a glass attack on a woman at
a nightclub. She told of being handcuffed to the Reliance officer when
she was admitted to hospital in March with a blood clot on the
placenta."
My reaction is 'tough!". She had no respect for the victim she
nastily assaulted so why should her family expect her to be treated
with dignity now.
How about because we regard ourselves as more civilised than a drunk who
glasses someone?
--
Richard Miller
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On Apr 28, 9:05 pm, "The Todal" <deadmail...@beeb.net> wrote:
But I daresay your thoughtfulness would quickly evaporate were you to learn
that the victim also had a history of violence.
This has nothing to do with the matter. If the offender believer she
was at risk of immediate danger of assault, she would have had the
opportunity of playing the 'self defence' card (pretty well a 'get out
of jail free' card) at her trial. This defence would almost certainly
have failed because 'glassing' is very unlikely to be considered as a
reasonable response to the danger.
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On 28 Apr, 11:24, Graham Murray <newsp...@gmurray.org.uk> wrote:
Palindrome <m...@privacy.net> writes:
If the chain was only one metre long, I doubt that there would be a
closed door between the prisoner and security officer while she was
using the toilet.
================================================
Furthermore, she would have been one metre away from the security
officer while the security officer was #@($ting and pissing. Being not
much of a lady, she probably didn't even have the decency to turn her
back. No doubt she got a real big thrill from the experience of
watching a big macho man #@($ting and pissing. My sympathies lie with
the poor security officer who had to suffer the presence of this #@&@
while he was #@($ting and pissing.
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The Todal wrote:
Yep, I expect that the view from the other side of the curtain/door was
really something.
Nope. Nor added to by the typical causes of placental abruption.
But I see no reason why a criminal should be treated any differently
depending on whether they are male or female.
Or if the reason they are in hospital is linked to their female bits
rather than their male bits.
Quite right. We really need to return to the good ole days of the 1990's
when Michael Howard & Ann Widdecombe were in charge at the Home Office & who
fought so desperately for the rights of both heavily pregnant women
prisoners who were in labour *&* for those who were actually giving birth,
to be handcuffed to their beds.
We can't be too careful - yeh ?
--
Joe Lee
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On Apr 28, 9:05 pm, "The Todal" <deadmail...@beeb.net> wrote:
This has nothing to do with the matter. If the offender believer she
was at risk of immediate danger of assault, she would have had the
opportunity of playing the 'self defence' card (pretty well a 'get out
of jail free' card) at her trial. This defence would almost certainly
have failed because 'glassing' is very unlikely to be considered as a
reasonable response to the danger.
That wasn't the point I was making.
You can worry about whether the victim suffers the indignity of scarring,
and perhaps (rather illogically) see that as a good reason to keep the
assailant in chains. If the victim is also a violent drunkard with a
penchant for getting into fights, perhaps ones sympathy for her will be
rather less and by the same token, the chains might then be removed from the
assailant.
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On 29 Apr, 04:04, Ishtar <ishtar.c...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
On 28 Apr, 11:24, Graham Murray <newsp...@gmurray.org.uk> wrote:
================================================
Furthermore, she would have been one metre away from the security
officer while the security officer was #@($ting and pissing. Being not
much of a lady, she probably didn't even have the decency to turn her
back. No doubt she got a real big thrill from the experience of
watching a big macho man #@($ting and pissing. My sympathies lie with
the poor security officer who had to suffer the presence of this #@&@
while he was #@($ting and pissing.
===================================================
In fact the security officer can now take his employers to court under
the youman rights act, as his dignity has been affronted and his
feelings have been hurt on account of having to have that woman
standing one metre away from him when he was #@($ting and pissing.
The bottom line is: ALL human beings are insufferably stupid.
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