Pregnant in Prison
I had occasion to read a recent article in the Valley Advocate entitled “Birth Behind Bars,” dated September 22, 2011 and written by Maureen Turner, and I felt compelled to set the record straight.
I am a 28-year veteran of the Massachusetts Department of Correction (MA DOC) and am currently the superintendent of MCI-Framingham. The MA DOC took issue with several of the findings of the National Women’s Law Center report. Specifically, the report was ill-informed as to:
1. Restraint polices. The MA DOC does have a policy limiting the use of restraints on pregnant women. In brief, it prohibits restraints during active labor and delivery and requires that pregnant women being transported be cuffed in front only during their second and third trimesters.
The MA DOC does have a designated person who determines if a woman qualifies as a security risk; that person is the superintendent. Additionally, medical staff’s input is always considered when applying restraints on inmates, pregnant or not.
The MA DOC complies with medical orders concerning restraints on all inmates.
2. Prenatal care. HIV testing has been offered to all incarcerated individuals within the MA DOC for many years.
The MA DOC has pre-existing arrangements for deliveries, which occur at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in Worcester. Pregnant women are also seen at the hospital for prenatal care as required. In addition, physicians from UMass’ obstetrics call group conduct weekly obstetrics clinics at MCI-Framingham. Lastly, MA DOC’s health care vendor (UMass Correctional Health Care) employs the full-time services of nurse practitioners to provide close management of the pregnant population. All of the nurse practitioners are Women’s Health-certified.
Prenatal nutrition counseling and the provision of appropriate nutrition is also offered to all pregnant women through MCI-Framingham’s Catch the Hope program.
The MA DOC funds and utilizes the Spectrum Women and Children’s Program, which is a community-based program for pregnant and post-partum women who are in pre-release status. This program permits perinatal and new mothers to live, and receive medical and parenting programs, in a therapeutic environment.
In summary, the MA DOC and its staff are committed to providing the community standard of care for pregnant incarcerated women.
Lynn Bissonnette
Superintendent
MCI-Framingham
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Labonte Not a “Girl”
Tom Sturm’s article [“Girl of the (Leap) Year,” October 27, 2011] about Megan Labonte’s photos was interesting. However, the title of the article, calling her a “girl,” which was likewise emblazoned on your front page with the most titillating photo of her (of all the photos that you published) lying down with cleavage showing, smacks of smuttiness and seems like it was developed from a clearly male voyeurish perspective, besides being inaccurate: she is not a “girl,” she is a 33-year-old woman. “Girl” is defined as a female child or a young, immature woman. At 33 years old and with all the maturity she shows in her life and work, it is denigrating and creepy-old-guyish to call her a “girl.” If your editorial team (hopefully staffed by equal numbers of both men and women with equal voice in editorial decisionmaking) reviews your cover pages and article titles and approved this one without batting an eye, it says something for misogyny being alive and well at your publication.
Melissa Geitzen
Shutesbury
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Casinos and the Environment
Help! Where are the Mass Audubon Society, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Sierra Club when you need them? Why aren’t they demanding guidelines for locating casinos in areas that would least impact the environment? Why don’t they demand that Patrick abide by his “ten principles for sustainable growth?” Casinos don’t have windows. Gamblers don’t care about scenery. They’re too busy being hypnotized by the designed-to-addict slots. So why ruin pretty spots?
The latest horror from the casino vultures is the proposal to build one of their addiction factories in Brimfield off Smith Road, next to the Pike. Of course, the most serious proposals are all in environmentally sensitive areas. Where else would mindless money monsters who would profit off the misery of other people and their families possibly want to build one of these things? Anyone who is familiar with this property knows that it is home to one of the most beautiful and dramatic landmarks in the Quaboag River Valley, ledgy Devil’s Peak.
The Quaboag, which tumbles along Route 67 through a rugged, pristine valley, is considered by the AMC to be the best whitewater in central Massachusetts. Naturally, this would be a perfect spot for the greedmeisters to wreck. Now the mountain with its beaver ponds and endless views is being blasted and logged. If that isn’t damage enough, its neighborhood might very well be paved over, Vegas-style.
It’s disgraceful enough that our governor and legislature have decided to unleash casinos on our state. But to destroy environmentally sensitive areas should be unthinkable. One location, the Wyckoff Country Club in Holyoke, is right up against Mt. Tom. What a view that would be for hikers! And migrating hawks could fly smack into the glass towers.
Then there’s Casino Hill in Palmer, presently a wildlife corridor with wetlands that drain into the Quaboag River, which looms over lovely unspoiled valleys with pretty Norman Rockwell towns. Just ripe for strip malling, paving and urbanizing.
If these casinos are the great economic engines they’re touted to be, then why not use them to breathe new life into our dying cities? Why not recycle abandoned factories the greedmeisters outsourced to Asia?
When will folks wake up? Mama Nature’s fed up with us. How many times does she have to remind us that she is sick and tired of being abused?
And why do we have to abuse each other by preying off one another to make a buck?
No, jobs are not a good reason to run this state into the ground. We are reaping our karma. In the end Mama will prevail, unless we grow up and start taking care of our home and one another. Maybe we just plain don’t deserve this beautiful planet. We certainly don’t appreciate it.
Charlotte Burns
Palmer
