Disgraceful practice. And whilst I am on the subject- what the h*ll is with the "the baby was poorly". Funny I thought this was a Scottish newspaper?

and the moral of the story is to shoot up on a regular basis, commit crime to feed your stinking depraved junkie habit then become with child go to jail get out of jail into a new house .................. wow and I thought you had to go to classes do well at school and then uni or college stay out of trouble, go courting, get married plan a family save up etc etc ............ but seems I am wrong.

Prison is not the holidaycamp cake walk the media would have you believe...they've been going on about the cushy conditions for years and years so what about this one then? Seems a bit extreme to say the least and eejits like "#2The Fly Fifer" who haven't been caught yet, are in for a rude awakening when they are.
And I hope you're pregnant when you do get caught!!!!...oh I know, you'll say you're a bloke...and if you are a poor excuse for a man then why do you sound off like a complete pussy?

In todays prison the cons run the show, they have acces to mobile phones, university degrees, TV, hot and cold running water, soap, cigarettes and of course any drug they want.

There is medical care (albeit with a compulsory iron supplement :-) ) there are visiting rights, soon they may be able to vote, the perverts and paedos can ask for all the court notes and evidence sot hey can "work on appeals"

Jail the cons teach other the most up to date scams and so on ...........

Unless the female prisoner is a very high risk, murderous psychopathic nutjob, surely handcuffs are surplus to requirements?? You'd think their labour pains would be enough to keep them in a hospital bed, wouldn't you?

This is a disgraceful practice and should be stopped - unless of course, the female prisoner IS a very high risk, murderous psychopathic nutjob!!!

Really, who gives a damn. Do the crime, serve the time up the duff or not. If you are up the duff and end up in jail, there should be no special treatment. You are a criminal and expect to be treated like one, the chains should never be removed and as soon as baby is born...whoosh straight into foster care, probably best for baby as it should not be brought up by a criminal or exposed to the criminal fraternity.
If you are a criminal drug addict...whoosh baby adopted, probbably better off without you.
Being up the duff is no excuse for getting preferential treatment. You don't deserve the baby and the baby does not deserve you!

I have to say I agree with Fife Flyer. To be honest, if you want to avoid the above then A) don't commit a crime B)don't take up heroine/smack C) get sterilised/don't have sex.

Otherwise, to be honest, not many people actually care about the plight of a smackie criminal, male or female.

Besides, look at the last scentence by the woman. The whole experience has made her a better person, therefore jail and consequential supposed "humiliation" actually worked insofar as it got her off drugs and on the straight and narrow. If we made conditions much much better, would she have got the motiviation to get off drugs? No. Therefore, it's working, it ain't broke, don't fix it.

M'lady doth protest too much.

So Ms. Harvey felt humiliated and depressed, eh? Oh, diddums. And her only doing a short sentence for petty theft as well. Come on Michael Howie, what lazy journalism. For ANY woman to end up in prison these days takes some going. Have you asked her what her 'previous' was? For her to end up in jail she must have a LONG history of petty theft. Shame for the kid though, having that as an example.
#3 Albanoch.
I hate to disabuse you, but there's a good chance that Fly Fifer will never have to experience the inside of a jail. I don't know why you make the assumption that it's an inevitability. The vast majority of us never see the jail or even (shocker!!) get arrested. It's called being a normal, honest citizen.

Whoever does the crime must do the time. Bring back some Dickensian prisons, people will realise then that crime does not pay.

Spot the significant sentence of the last criminal whinger?

"medical staff "made life hard" for inmates by taking their methadone away soon after they arrived"

Does this country really not give a toss about children at all? Why are we letting heroin addicts breed children? Has anybody actually seen the conditions such children endure? I have, and it isn't pretty.

As #10 says, for a woman to be imprisoned at all takes a might lot of offending, so pardon me if my heart doesn't bleed for them; I'll save my sympathy for their victims.

I find myself, unusually, agreeing with Dragonhead - sterlise drug addicts for a start.

#12 Alasdair

What bad conditions for men? If prisons are horrible places it's because they're full of horrible people. I get weary of liberal-minded folk going on about conditions in our prisons. OK, they have to share a cell (or is that a 'room' these days?) and some of the poor wee lambs have to p*** in a pot of a night. Tough. They get fed, with more many spent on their food than for our old folks' homes, school meals and on feeding the Armed Forces. They get watered. They get TVs and gyms and phone cards and visits from their families. They don't get beaten or abused (except be themselves). The reason the jails are full is they're not hard enough.

Ok don't handcuff them, use cable ties instead.

All drud addicts should be sterilized. They should receive no methadone or benefits unless they agree. Such an approach would cut down the explosion of drug addict babies.

#17 Scotsgait

Never say never, but I have no intention of 'going inside' My life choices make it unlikely that I will go inside. No-one I know has been inside. None of my family has been inside. I am a fairly average citizen. If all these repeat offenders make the informed decision to either commit a crime and possibly go to jail for it, then prisons can't be that bad. Personally I wouldn't take a chance on doing anything where the possibility might be that I ended up somewhere awful.

#7 Fly Fifer

You are a criminal and expect to be treated like one, the chains should never be removed and as soon as baby is born...whoosh straight

...I thought you were going to say "into chains"

#16 decent one

drug addict babies

No such thing. Did you mean babies of drug addicted mothers?

Sir Here I think I thank you for joining our ranks. Here we are in the same broadband. Same system. Same medical and ophthalmic and hearing aids. I hate the story but it is here...'THEY TOOK ME TO HOSPITAL IN CHAINS'
ANN-MARIE Harvey claims she was shackled to a guard as she gave birth to her daughter.

to show he loved babies. Say, are you crazy???
The reason is simple. If I ask your photograph your husband or boy friend or the jail warden may start looking for me. So just the chain. I thank you are sweet to teach the other to be chains and give births. What year was this 1200 when the witches did the portions?

#22 Scotsgait

Taking drugs is an 'informed decision'. The consequences of doing so are the responsibility of the eejits that do so.

If they can't do the time, then don't do the crime.

witches? portions?

C'mon Fizzy, your posts are becoming clearer....buck up yer ideas!!!

Please! I work with prisoners everyday. It wouldnt supprise me a bit if one of them tried to run off while in labor in the hospital. They act like they are sooo sick while at the jail and then when we take them to the hospital some try to run or they get on the phone and call boyfriends and get them to bring drugs to them. But you have to get the medical treatment for them or they start telling the newspaper how we mistreat them. No I dont feel sorry for them, If they dont like being treated like a prisoner then behave and you wont have to go to jail.

Sorry, but from the headline, are we supposed to be overcome with sympathy for these 'poor' women who have chosen their lifestyle? They were neither forced to commit their crimes (in fact, prison is the last resort, so they must deserve to be there) nor did they have to get pregnant (just another card to play in the hope that it'll be a soft judge who'll give them another fine or community service).

This is a disgrace in a civilised society -what is the SNP going to do about it?- Same as New Labour, nought?

32

I watched a programme that showed newborns going cold turkey in hospital.

The hairs went up on the back of my neck as the wee ones howled and shrieked as they went through withdrawal.

The mother that does this to a child does not deserve to have children - drug addict (enforced contraception)

fife flyer has a point, dae the drime dae the time end off

#27 well said. Why should prison be made easier to do? They are supposed to be there as a punishment. A lot of women do get pregnant on purpose to get a lighter sentence or to get treated better in jail, what happens to the innocent child then? They have to go into care? We've all seen how that works out!

Also I agree completely with sterilisation for junkies, they shouldn't be allowed to have babies who have to start their life with withdrawl symptoms and face a life of poverty and suffering?

I, for one am absolutely sick of working my ass off just so that layabouts can take drugs, lie in bed all day, drink themselves to death etc as usual its the taxpayers who are paying for it all.

#28 Scotgait

Making an enformed decision about taking a substance which may in the future affect your ability to make enformed decisions......... What's the difference. It's what being an adult's all about. Stop making excuses for these people. Loads of people have tough starts without CHOOSING drugs or crime as a lifestyle.

I see nothing wrong with this.

These women lost their rights to be treated with respect the moment that their lives infringed others, through whatever crime they committed.

I've always enjoyed upper-crust buffoon Adam Hart-Davis's 'What the Victorians did for us'; we could probably learn alot from revisiting some of their punishments.

#38 wrong thread perhaps?

Chinese seem to have it right. Guilty, Appeal, Guilty, out the back, urgh!, in the box......next!

Fly fifer, Draco was a wimp, Hezza and others couldn't have said it better myself.
By the way what planet is #23 on?
Time to "beam him back to earth Scotty"

#38,Sounds like you have just arrived here and find it does not meet with your expectations of being the land of milk and honey.
Splendid stuff,now if you can just tell all your friends
and get yourself and them back to the utopia you came from,i think that will make us all very happy!
Oh and please tell any future friends about the disgraceful way we treat women and small babies.

#46
What a good idea!

#50 & 51 Methalions

Got the message and understand what your saying! What are you saying?

Fly Fifer @ #7

Do you understand how few people adopt?? There is a woeful shortage of Foster carers, and often this leaves children open to abuse.

Social services don't provide for children very well. Some of the people who foster do it for the money. I know this because my fiance was adopted, luckily by a good family, but she went into foster care before that with a woman who looked after 9 kids just to get extra money. Needless to say she got very little attention during that time.

Its all well and good to say take the kids off of them, but are YOU going to care for them?? It sounds as if this woman has tried to get better for her child, and that is noble.

How do women get pregnant in prison?

If they are pregnant prior to going in then perhaps they should have obeyed the law..

This is SO SIMPLE! Behave within the laws set out and you will never be in a position in which you are handcuffed to a bed.

Fail to comply with the rules of the land and you go down chains and all.....simple

6. Dragonhead, China

The Chinese citizens are not allowed to vote , so the communist controllers can do anything they want with the citizens.
China is ruled by communist men (tyrants) not by laws. When the Chinese people protest, the CPC send in the Army and shoot them.

Dragonehead before you start squawking about your communist friends and their methods of crushing freedom and liberty; Look at what they do to pregnant women.

Guangxi Officials Carry Out Mass Forced Abortions
2007.04.22

Members of China's Communist Party Youth League. Photo: AFP
HONG KONG—Authorities in China’s southwestern region of Guangxi have forced dozens of pregnant women to a hospital in Baise city to undergo abortions, some as late as nine months, the women and their relatives said.

In interviews with RFA’s Mandarin and Cantonese services, several women and their husbands said they were visited last week by officials from the municipal family planning bureau, which is in charge of upholding strict population controls under China’s “one-child” policy.

They all reported the same scenario: that the women were bundled aboard a vehicle and taken to a hospital in Baise, where many other pregnant women were crammed into wards and corridors. Their babies were then aborted against their will, they said.

“They said they were giving me an injection to induce labor. But they injected it into the fetus, and when the baby was born, it was already dead,” a woman who had been seven months pregnant told RFA reporter Fung Yat-yiu.
They said they were giving me an injection to induce labor. But they injected it into the fetus, and when the baby was born, it was already dead.
Ms Zhou, formerly seven months pregnant

Family planning officials present
“The injections were carried out by the hospital staff, but there were officials from the family planning bureau supervising them,” the woman, surnamed Zhou, said.

He Caig

#6 Dragon Head

continued from 57..

and think that this procedure was unacceptable. It was so sudden.”
Dozens of women affected
“They gave her the injection at 11 a.m. the previous day and she had the abortion at about 6 p.m. the following day. When the baby was born we could see it was a little boy. I don’t know the name of the medication they used but it’s something that kills the child slowly,” Liang added.
“My wife had been eating a lot and had put on a lot of weight, so we didn’t realise she was pregnant until about three months in. We weren’t going to have an abortion then, because of our religious beliefs,” he said.
My church pastor has been warned by officials from the State Administration for Religious Affairs not to talk to the media.His telephone has been under surveillance. I went to the hospital today and no more pregnant women were there...They have been transferred elsewhere.
Local man
Staff at the People’s Hospital in Youjiang confirmed Tuesday that the obstetrics and gynecology department was full.
“Right now we’re in the middle of a family planning foray this month so beds are very scarce. Suddenly there are so many patients here,” one woman who answered the phone in obstetrics and gynecology told the Cantonese service.
A male healthcare worker in the same department said: “Who told you this? If they want the child, then we don’t inject them; we don’t perform abortions if they are unwilling.”
“If you want to know what’s going on, why don’t you come here and see for yourself. It’s not my job to deal with you,” he told the Mandarin service.
A woman who answered the phone at the hospital confirmed the presence of family planning officials at the hospital. “There’s a whole bunch of them here,” she said, adding that they’d been staying there through recent days. “If you have any questions why don’t you come over here and see for yourself.”
But Qing Youzi, a woman who says she was also

Just out of interest is this the same person?

http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=813792007

http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=50602007

#61 Lindsay

It seems so. A solution might be be to chain her to a radiator then allow her a water birth in the deep end at the Commy Pool. Then give her unfortunate offspring to a human being to raise. Lord help the poor wee sod.

at the end of the day they have given up their rights to any human rites as soon as they commit the crime . as for the story about having to wait up to an hour to go to the toilet what a shame did you see the cells i thought it was supposed to be a prison not a butlins holiday resort. its a slap in the face of any victim outside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#61 Stone the Crows!!! - follow the link, folks.

"a short sentence for petty theft", eh?

Congratulations to Michael Howie; guess who's not going to get the Pulitzer Prize for journas-lism this year then?
So much for the "Scotsman's" investigative journalism!
This defies belief.

Well I am sorry what becuase they are pregnant they should be given special treatment, well hell no no way hose. At the end of the day they committed the crime tough luck as far as i am concerned if men are still handcuffed while in hospital beds and during operations then they should as well. I mean after all you women asked for equal rights did you's not. but as usual you only want equal rights when it suits you.

65. General-Blood,

no no way hose

The correct statement is
"no way Jose"

GC

I have visited a hospital ward where a male prisoner was present he was not hancuffed to the bed.

I have visited a hospital ward where a male prisoner was present he was not handcuffed to the bed.

I have noticed that your poster 19 considers that there is a sexual element to this.

23
Makes reference to Witches and Potions this is probably one of the most relevant comments here.

There have also been reports of convicted Sex Offenders being put in charge of Women Employees in the hospital setting close to the Hospital Records Department.

While mounting appeal.

I have noticed that this appears to be a common tactic possibly one partly orchestrated by Lawyers or other interests:-

Put other people in the position of commenting directly on a situation which they cannot comment upon or be deemed to approve it if they are not in a position to query it.

Another is the use of forms which indirectly could denote the approval of wider issues or locations but which there is no option other than to sign in the designated format.

Duress.

Another is putting people who have been associated with some previous failure in charge of some ongoing situation.

Another variation upon 73

68
I understand that the method of Security in connection with the male prisoners in the hospital ward was to have a prison officer/warden standing by the bed or in the case of murderers to have two members of staff/wardens.

These prisoners took priority over other patients for Surgery etc.

No handcuffs.