Guest post: Taking issue with Del. Ben Cline on pregnant inmates
Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge
Note from Dan: Ann Huebner Waller is a mother of three who lives in Lexington and who takes great issue with Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge, over the issue of shackling female jail inmates who are pregnant, or in labor, during transit to a hospital. A bill that would have prevented these tactics was killed this year in a House of Delegates subcommittee that Cline chairs, after he raised the question, “Do you agree choices have consequences?” — which many took as a suggestion those women deserve such harsh treatment.
By Ann Huebner Waller
I know you have written about Delegate Ben Cline’s role in torpedoing HB 836, the bill that would have prevented the shackling of female prisoners during labor.
Not sure if you are aware of the most recent wrinkle: Last week Cline sent a letter to our local papers in Lexington and Rockbridge County, saying he was “misrepresented in the press” and is actually against the shackling of inmates during labor.
From the Rockbridge Weekly:
Therefore, let me set the record straight on the issue of pregnant prisoners: I oppose the use of shackles on female prisoners during labor.
In fact, I have been a strong supporter of the current regulatory action by the Virginia Department of Corrections to prohibit such treatment in Virginia’s jails. This regulatory action was described to us in February during a meeting of the Public Safety Subcommittee that I chair in the House of Delegates. During this meeting, we also considered a bill (HB 836) that would have restricted the use of restraints on pregnant prisoners. Unfortunately, the bill was drafted too broadly and would have led to potentially dangerous situations for law enforcement and for the public.
As Chairman, my first responsibility is to ensure that the laws we pass do not endanger public safety. Therefore, I must ask critical questions about every bill that comes before us, even the ones with goals that I may support. My questions of the witnesses during the hearing were primarily related to the dangers created by the bill.
The interesting thing is the hearings were VIDEOTAPED (the videos are below). I’m wondering if you feel, as I do, that Cline seriously misrepresents the bill and his role in torpedoing it.
In his letter, Cline says the bill was drafted “too broadly” and would have led to dangerous situations for law enforcement and public. Specifically, he says:
(T)he bill as written would have put legal barriers in place against the use of any restraint, even handcuffs, on a violent female prisoner during any stage of pregnancy, not just during labor. I asked several questions about the general need to use handcuffs on violent criminals, and I expressed my concern about the impact that this broad language would have on the safety of law enforcement and jail staff.”
What Cline conveniently neglects to mention is that the bill included a broad exception to give law enforcement the discretion to use restraints where a “reasonably necessary circumstance” arose during ANY STAGE OF PREGNANCY OR CHILDBIRTH. The law as written also allowed for the routine use of wrist restraints during transportation of any pregnant inmate, even when there was not a “reasonably necessary circumstance.”
He also conveniently neglects to mention that, when it looked like the bill wasn’t going to pass, Delegate Patrick Hope amended it (pared it down), limiting the restriction on shackling to only labor, delivery, and post-partum recovery–and still including the “reasonably necessary circumstance” stuff! This was a direct attempt to appease Cline. But Cline torpedoed that too. (Text of amended version is visible at minute 13:40 on video Part 2).
Delegate Hope also tried to have the bill “held over” (rather than just killed), so as not to send a terrible message to the public about the way legislators feel about the shackling of female inmates during labor. Cline torpedoed this as well.
So Cline saying that he is actually AGAINST shackling female inmates during labor just makes me laugh–or want to cry. Especially when you check out minutes 20:30 – 27:00 of the video Part 1 (below) where he is harassing the representative from the anti-torture group (National Religious Campaign Against Torture) and insinuating that one inmate actually deserved to be shackled during labor, returned to jail and hour later, and left to expel her placenta over a week after that.
You can see exactly what Ben Cline is about and where he is coming from in those six and a half minutes.
Again, Dan, thanks for keeping an eye on Virginia’s politicians for us. Oh, the things these people do when they think no one is watching!
Part 1
Part 2
April 4, 2012 - 6:00 AM
Cline’s part of the new breed of Virginia legislators whose limited life experiences have been centered largely around politics. This leads I’m afraid to these folks having difficulty with the idea that they do not possess superior knowledge regarding every issue that comes before the legislature. Cline’s behaviour during this sub-committee meeting was shameful. The liberty he takes with the facts as he attempts “to set the record straight” is no less shameful. Unfortunately his sorry performance in this instance has been repeated by him and his legislative colleagues in a number of other instances as well. I can only that with maturity he might actually develop both some wisdom and humility.
Politics 101, if you cannot run from the truth, muddy the waters and confuse people you obviously think are just that stupid. Ben Cline needs to go.
Thank goodness for modern technology without which we would not be able to find the truth behind a politician’s well-crafted words. The videotape does not lie but Representative Cline has, at the very least, stretched the truth about as far as he can. Let’s see if he has the courage, now that this issue has been exposed to the full light of day, to do what is right.
Rep. Ben Cline is like a cockroach when the light is turned on–quickly scurries away. He can run but not hide from the from the truth of these tapes! Where we see him govern with arrogance and smirks over the pain and suffering of another human being. I don’t want this man having any say about personal matters of health that should be strictly between a woman and her doctor/s. To my mind, Cline needs to be tarred, feathered, shackled and run out of town!
Shackling pregnant women during labor, requiring them to be subjected to unwanted and unnecessary medical procedures. It Is simply incomprehensible that this is 2012 and that our elected officials are pushing this agenda. I would much rather see “my” elected official work on issues such as fighting poverty which according to quick census facts are above Virginia levels in Rockbridge and Amherst County which Mr. Cline represents 12.1 % and 13.1 % respectively .
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51/51163.html
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51/51009.html
Last note and a quick advice to Mr. Cline. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for your political future to check census fact pages sometime. Amherst County has 52.2% and Rockbridge County has 50.7% female population. If I was running for public office I would consider not making such large percentage of potential voters angry at me with anti-women agenda… And I would certainly try not to laugh about stupid jokes made by one of my colleagues during legislative sessions in which he discusses how he was deprived of his sex life because of the trans vaginal ultra sound procedure. The video clearly shows you laughing about it, not a matter many of us found amusing much less funny.
I think the GOP both in Virginia and nationally are going to learn a very swift lesson from women during the next elections.
Ben Cline is following the time honored Republican tradition of casting a vote to satisfy his party’s right wing base and then trying to run from it in public statements. He and others like him want it both ways. It’s always “the bill was flawed” or “the language was too broad” If that’s so, then fix the damn language and pass a bill to deal with the problem instead of talking out of both sides of your mouth. It was the same thing with the “jobs, jobs, jobs” campaign that the Republicans ran and then as soon as they got elected, showed us their real agenda—social and and
Christian fundamentalist issues. It’s time for a big shhakeup in the Virginia Ga.
I am appalled by Delegate Ben Cline’s treatment of his constituents.
During a committee meeting to consider a bill limiting the shackling of pregnant inmates, his actions and his words show a gross disrespect for the citizens he is sworn to represent. Let us put aside for the moment discussing the humane and decent intentions of the bill.
Instead, please take just a few minutes to watch Mr. Cline’s rude, condescending, and even prosecutorial tone with the very constituents he was elected to represent! Mr. Cline’s lack of civility and respect during that sub-committee meeting is astonishing. Then, as if to make my point, he confirms in writing that he believes it is his job ask “questions of the witnesses during the hearing.”
THEY ARE NOT WITNESSES, MR. CLINE, THEY ARE YOUR CONSTITUENTS!
THIS WAS NOT A HEARING, MR. CLINE, BUT A MEETING TO CONSIDER THE MERITS A BILL BEFORE THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE!
These good working people are concerned about how they are being represented by their elected officials. They are active and engaged citizens, local small business owners as well as representatives of organizations large and small, who took time out of their day to express their concerns to their elected representative. Time away from their jobs and lives. YOUR JOB, SIR, IS TO LISTEN TO THEM! I consider it an outrage that you should treat them so disrespectfully, and with such disdain.
If you will not listen to the voices of your voters while performing your duties as a Delegate, then be certain you will hear them loud and clear on election day. You will hear us.
I don’t understand the motivation for Cline’s behavior. I’m beginning to think that being cruel/indifferent to anyone who does not have the power to influence political outcomes, is a republican knee-jerk position. This post clarifies the issue with facts. Thanks for that.
Tinni, when they get sick of kicking puppies, they go after poor female pregnant prisoners.