'Woman in labor shackled to bed'
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Perben: Says treatment of the woman was "unnacceptable"
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PARIS, France (AP) -- France's justice minister has ordered an inquiry into why prison guards handcuffed a woman in labor to her hospital bed, apparently fearful that she might escape.
The woman, an inmate at the Fleury-Merogis prison south of Paris, was transferred to a hospital to give birth on December 31. There, she was handcuffed to her bed during labor, the Justice Ministry said.
Justice Minister Dominique Perben, in a statement, said the woman's treatment was "unacceptable."
Perben instructed that prison directors be given written orders to ensure that "women in detention give birth in dignity," his ministry said.
He also ordered that guards remain outside the delivery room while women prisoners give birth in hospitals.
Prison inspectors launched an inquiry into the case of the woman, "who gave birth handcuffed," Perben's ministry said.
A prison watchdog group, the International Observatory of Prisons, said the woman refused to allow her guards to remain in the delivery room when she gave birth. They agreed to leave, but first handcuffed her, it said.
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