WHEN HER LABOR STARTED in the middle of the night, Benidalys Rivera’s contractions were painful and regularly three minutes apart. Correctional officers clamped on handcuffs for her ride from the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee to a local hospital. Her contractions had done nothing to dilate her cervix. In her hospital room, Rivera was shackled by one ankle to the bed; the restraints would be removed only when she reached “active labor.” After awhile, Rivera was given morphine to rest, and Vicki Elson, a volunteer doula, or woman’s delivery coach, massaged her feet and back.
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