U.N. human rights experts have called for major reforms of the U.S. criminal justice system to combat systemic racism, citing testimonies that jailed Black women had been shackled during childbirth while male inmates were forced to work in "plantation-style" conditions.

In a report published on Thursday, three U.N.-appointed experts said they had found practices in U.S. prisons that amounted to "an affront to human dignity" in visits in April and May.

The U.S. diplomatic mission in Geneva declined to comment. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said it was committed to ensuring the safety and security of incarcerated individuals as well as employees and the public.

One such practice is restraining and shackling women prisoners during childbirth, the report said.

The experts "heard, first hand, unbearable direct testimonies of pregnant women shackled during labour, who due to the chaining, lost their babies", it said. Asked to give details, a U.N. rights spokesperson referred to "several" cases and confirmed they all involved Black women.

  • flicker
    6•9 months ago

    Does your paintbrush extend to the incarcerated black Americans who are victims of the policies observed by the UN, or do you mean a specific subset of Americans when you say these things?

    • theodewere
      -7•9 months ago

      yeah well, ask those guys how American they feel, and then come back at me

      • flicker
        1•9 months ago

        I can't ask all of them, so I asked one, and he said that he's no less American because he's in jail.

        So back to my question?