Arpaio Detainee Forced to Deliver Baby While Shackled [View All]

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/24/807488/-Arpaio-detainee-forced-to-deliver-baby-while-shackled

Arpaio detainee forced to deliver baby while shackled
by blueyescryinintherain

Tue Nov 24, 2009 at 11:04:14 PM EST

Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, has 160 deputies and jail officers specially trained to make federal immigration arrests and speed up deportations. Arpaio has made it his life's mission to deport any and all illegal immigrants in his jurisdiction...regardless of whether or not they are actually illegal. Telemundo 52 (in Spanish) via Latina.com describes the horror that Alma Minerva Chacon had to endure at the hands of Sheriff Arpaio's department:

The most recent atrocity committed by the self-proclaimed "America's Toughest Sheriff" involves a woman who was detained while 9-months pregnant. Alma Minerva Chacon's case has been receiving media attention due to the brutality with which she was treated. The very same night of her arrest, Chacon went into labor and found herself afraid and alone, being rushed to a local hospital with her hands and legs chained in shackles.

blueyescryinintherain's diary :: ::

Even casual followers of Arpaio's cruel and inhumane treatment of those unfortunate enough to be rounded up in his "sweeps" can imagine how terrified this woman, on the verge of delivering a baby, must have been. It gets worse.

Once she reached the hospital, nurses repeatedly begged the Sheriff's staff to allow them to unchain the mother, but they refused and Chacon was forced to give birth while still shackled to the bed. At one point, the nurse asked for them to release her so that she could be escorted to the bathroom for a urinalysis, but even that request was denied. But the worst came once Chacon gave birth to her baby girl.

I honestly can't imagine a situation where a human being could so disrespect the rights and dignity of another human being that they would do that (well maybe I can but that's another diary for another day). It's not like the woman was going to escape with a f*cking dilated cervix or anything. As alluded to above, yes, it does get worse:

Still chained to the bed, Arpaio's police staff refused to allow Chacon to hold her newborn baby and then warned her that if no one came to pick up the child within 72 hours, she would be turned over into state custody.

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