Judge Dismisses Woman’s Suit on Birth in Chains
A $10-million civil rights suit against former Sheriff Peter J. Pitchess by a one-time jail inmate who said she was chained to her bed while giving birth was dismissed Tuesday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Warren Deering.
Deering said there was no evidence to indicate that Pitchess personally established or exercised any policy of shackling women inmates when they were taken from Sybil Brand Institute to County-USC Medical Center to have babies.
The suit had been filed by Fern Dalton in 1981, two years after she delivered her daughter while serving 100 days for revocation of probation. Her suit was prompted by a similar one that in 1980 caused the Sheriff’s Department to abandon a policy of restraining women during labor and recuperation.
Pitchess claimed that the policy had been instituted before he became sheriff and never included shackling women during delivery. He also said he eliminated all restraints for women giving birth when the first lawsuit brought the problem to his attention.
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