Arpaio Detainee Forced to Deliver Baby While Shackled

[Hissyspit]

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.

MORE

[paulsby]

1. he's an asshole

i have two relatives, both retired cops and both republicans who live in maricopa county. they think arpaio is a dangerous clown. he even asked them if they'd like to be on his citizen posse. lol.

[Solly Mack]

2. Joe Arpaio should have been in prison a long time ago.

[backscatter712]

3. Arpaio should be hung, drawn & quartered.

He really is a subhuman fuck that should be disowned from the human race.

And Phoenix should burn the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department to the ground and salt the earth whence it stood. The entire department is bad. Every. Single. Cop.

[aquart]

10. Agreed except for one thing.

He is not subhuman. He is human. He treats other humans as subhuman which does not give us license to use his identical thought process. Tear him to pieces with your bare hands, that is fine by me. No man who mistreats a woman should live. But NEVER pretend that it is not a human being who is being punished.

[47of74]

4. These sorts of crimes should be punishable by nothing less than

The sorts of crimes that pig Arpaio's deputies committed should be punishable by nothing less than 10,000 years in prison without the possibility of reprieve or parole.

[kenny blankenship]

5. This has got to be a felony human rights violation

and if it isn't, I'd like to know why. Atty Gen. Holder please do not delay in bringing charges against this scumbag.

[bergie321]

12. His jails

Are already on the Amnesty International watch list. I believe this is the only jail in the US to hold that "honored" distinction. His jails lost their medical certification after constantly failing to provide proper care and in some cases withholding critical medications(insulin, heart medication, etc). He has cost Maricopa County over $45 million in lawsuits over prisoner abuse and deaths. He arrested journalists for publishing the address of one of his houses which they got from publicly accessible websites and wanted them to turn over the IP addresses of everyone who viewed the online article.

And last year, Maricopa County voters gave him 55% of their votes. Somebody get me out of here!

[hughee99]

6. If I recall right, this isn't that uncommon and not unique to Sherrif Douchebag.

Several states are currently trying to pass legislation to outlaw this practice, and a few already have, but it goes on in many states.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. I love Phoenix, but...

the very fact this guy hasn't been run out of town on a rail or worse by the locals disgusts me.

Did he ever make good on his threat to transport prisoners by public transit? That was on the news the last time I was there.

[Downtown Hound]

15. Yes he did.

I saw a video on it one time. A woman getting off a plane was taken in full shackles and under guard on a public bus with everybody else. I think her crime was check fraud or something like that.

[barbtries]

8. i really hope there's an agency

investigating this monster. he needs to be gone. i can't believe that coldness. that poor mom, that poor baby! :cry:

[Warren DeMontague]

9. This guy is just an unbelievable asshole, isn't he?

Ugh.

[struggle4progress]

11. Pregnant Latina Says She Was Forced to Give Birth in Shackles After One of Arpaio’s Deputies

Racially Profiled Her
By Valeria Fernández
Published on October 20, 2009 at 6:34pm
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2009-10-22/news/pregnant-latina-says-she-was-forced-to-give-birth-to-her-baby-in-shackles-after-one-of-arpaio-s-deputies-racially-profiled-her/

[Feron]

17. Everyone should read that newspaper series.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/specialReports/view/1476917

Disgusting.

[KamaAina]

13. Suppose there had been a complication in the delivery

How many million$$$ would Sheriff Joke's brutality have cost the taxpayers?

[Nikki Stone1]

14. What was this woman's crime again?

Not that Arpaio cares, mind you.

[Taverner]

16. Very few people do I wish Death upon. Not even Dubya. But Arpio? Love to see him decomissioned

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

18. The best punishment for this sick man would be

to lock him in with the inmates in his jail, have the guards stand down, and then walk away.

[backscatter712]

19. Joe Arpaio's a far more deserving target for Psalm 109:8

"May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership."

Actually, the whole chapter, Psalm 109 is a suitable prayer we should be making for the likes of Joe Arpaio.

[lostnfound]

20. Someone I know has a daughter who had same thing happen while in prison in Texas

She (the grandmother of the newborn) tells the story matter-of-factly, seeming to believe that her daughter (arrested for something like shoplifting) needed to learn a lesson anyway. :eyes: She's a law-and-order bonehead Republican..able to justify any amount of war because the government says its good, able to justify any amount of police state repression and disrespect for human dignity if it comes from the hands of the "Republic".

She indicated it was common practice in Texas prisons -- birth in chains, baby taken away very soon thereafter, not able to hold the baby etc. Bastards.

Some people don't get America, really. Or what it means to be a human being.