NY lawmakers want limits on shackling pregnant people after Brooklyn courtroom birth

When Rebecca Figueroa gave birth to her fourth child, her right leg was chained to the hospital bed so tightly that the shackle left cut marks on her skin, she said.

Figueroa, then in her twenties and addicted to drugs, was awaiting trial in Suffolk County on low-level charges that were ultimately dismissed, she said. Nineteen years later, she still tears up as she thinks about how lonely and helpless she felt in that moment.

“I was hurt. I was sad. I was discouraged,” Figueroa said. “I felt like I was screaming and nobody could hear me.”

A package of bills pending in the state Legislature aims to improve treatment of pregnant people in custody. A childbirth inside a Brooklyn courtroom earlier this month is placing renewed attention on the legislation, which has stalled in the statehouse for years.

One bill would make it illegal in most cases to shackle pregnant people in police custody during labor, delivery and post-birth recovery. It would also strengthen existing protections against shackling people in jail or prison. Other pending legislation aims to improve access to prenatal care, nurseries and medical supplies for pregnant and postpartum people in custody.

On May 15, Samantha Randazzo gave birth inside arraignment court while in NYPD custody after police arrested the nine-months-pregnant woman on a low-level drug charge. A public defender in the courtroom that night said Randazzo's hands were cuffed behind her back while she waited to be arraigned, but officials said the restraints were removed once it became clear she was in labor.

Randazzo’s case “puts a sharp focus” on why the legislation needs to pass, said Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal of Manhattan’s West Side, who sponsored the anti-shackling bill.

“[It] illustrates the consequences of not enacting it into law before now,” she said. “It basically demands that we do.”

An NYPD spokesperson said Randazzo’s handcuffs were removed when she went into labor. They did not respond to questions about the department’s position on the proposed legislation.

The police department does not publicly report data on how many pregnant people it arrests each year. But the number of incarcerated women across the country has climbed in recent decades, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. In New York City, about 465 women are incarcerated in city jails on any given day, according to the latest data from the Department of Correction. Researchers estimate that about 3% of women entering U.S. jails and 4% of women admitted to state prisons are pregnant, according to the Women’s Community Justice Association.

New York already has laws that restrict the use of restraints during labor and delivery in most cases for people in jail or prison. But those laws do not apply to people in the custody of local law enforcement, including the NYPD.

When arresting pregnant people, the NYPD patrol guide currently instructs officers to cuff them behind their backs, “absent exceptional circumstances” like a medical emergency, and then notify a supervisor. Supervisors can decide whether a less restrictive method is appropriate, such as cuffing in front of the body or cuffing one hand to a stationary post, according to the patrol guide. The manual instructs police to consider several factors when determining the appropriate level of restraint, including the safety of everyone present, the likelihood of the person escaping and the circumstances leading to their arrest.

The police department agreed to update its policies and provide additional training on restraining pregnant people several years ago, in response to civil lawsuits filed by women who said they were shackled while giving birth in police custody. But an attorney who represented both women said at the time that the NYPD’s new policies fell short and did not seem to be based on input from experts.

Rosenthal’s bill would prohibit the use of restraints on people in police custody who are pregnant, in labor or delivery, or within 12 weeks post-pregnancy, except in extreme circumstances. If restraints are needed, they are supposed to be used for the shortest amount of time possible and only on the wrists in the front of the body.

For pregnant people incarcerated in jails and prisons, the legislation clarifies the limited situations when they can be restrained. Sophie Gebreselassie, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project, said the existing laws are ambiguous enough that correction officers often still use restraints when they shouldn’t, by claiming that it’s necessary for safety.

“Without clear mandates and without clear protections, horrific things will occur,” she said.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the leading professional association for OB-GYN’s, “strongly opposes the use of restraints in pregnancy, labor and delivery, and the postpartum period,” the organization said in guidance released in July 2021.

ACOG warns that restraints can endanger the health of both the pregnant person and the fetus. They can interfere with clinicians’ ability to evaluate patients, especially when emergencies arise, according to the guidance. When restraints are needed for safety reasons, the organization recommends that officials use the “least restrictive method possible.”

At least 42 states and Washington, D.C. had passed legislation that restricts the use of restraints during labor and delivery as of October 2025, according to a reproductive health advocacy and research group at Johns Hopkins University.

In addition to restrictions on shackling in custody, Rosenthal’s bill would ban the use of force against pregnant people and people within 12 weeks of giving birth or having another pregnancy outcome. There would be exceptions for situations where force is necessary to protect someone from imminent, serious harm or death. But even in extreme cases, officials would not be allowed to use certain tactics, such as pepper spray or chokeholds.

A spokesperson for New York City’s Department of Correction said the agency does not use restraints on people in its custody while they are in labor and will review the proposed amendments to the law.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said it does not use restraints of any kind when someone is in labor, delivery, recovering after childbirth, or when transporting people who are known to be pregnant or recently gave birth. The spokesperson said restraints may be authorized to prevent an incarcerated person from hurting themself, staff, medical providers or others if other measures are not sufficient.

The legislation still needs to pass through some procedural hurdles in order to pass before the end of session in June. Rosenthal said she thinks passing this legislation should be a top priority for lawmakers and hopes it will be quickly approved and signed into law.

“We cannot wait until next year,” she said.

Figueroa said her daughter is thriving in college in spite of her traumatic entrance into the world, including spending her first several months in a nursery inside the Suffolk County jail.

“She didn’t let nothing stop her,” Figueroa said.