MADISON – Peggy West-Schroder was born while her mother was incarcerated at the state’s women’s prison, Taycheedah Correctional Facility.
During pregnancy, her mother was shackled during medical appointments, while being transferred in vans between facilities, as well as during her delivery, West-Schroder explained to the Journal Sentinel. Now, she wants to put an end to the practice.
For years, she’s been working toward improving conditions for incarcerated people in Wisconsin and has been fighting since 2017 to get legislation passed that would stop the shackling of pregnant women.
“We believe that everybody deserves a beautiful birth story and a beautiful birth story shouldn’t have parts in it where you have to tell your child ‘While I was pregnant with you, I was chained around my ankles and to my hips and from my hips to my arms, and my movement was restricted,” West-Schroder said.
West-Schroder, who is the executive director of Free Movement, a Wisconsin-based organization assisting incarcerated women, said she sees a new bill circulating the legislature as a step in the right direction but she wants more.