Lawsuit alleged Rikers Island staff shackled a pregnant detainee during medical and court transport for months

On August 27, 2026, a woman filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York alleging that New York City Department of Correction staff repeatedly placed her in full-body shackles and other restraints while she was a pregnant pretrial detainee at Rikers Island. The suit says DOC staff knew she was pregnant from a test administered around the time of her August 2023 detention, but "routinely and repeatedly" placed her in full body restraints — including leg shackles and waist chains — every time she was transported out of the jail complex for psychiatric examinations, medical visits, and scheduled court appearances. Officers stopped using full-body shackles roughly two months into her detention, around October 2023, but the suit alleges they continued placing her in mechanical handcuffs during transport for about another month before stopping entirely. She was released from Rikers in March 2024 and gave birth the following day.

The suit separately alleges the city subjected her to unsafe housing conditions: because Rikers' specialized housing unit for pregnant detainees was closed for the duration of her detention, she was instead held in a mental health observation dormitory not suited to her needs, where she says she was exposed to pepper spray directed at other detainees in the dormitory. A spokesperson for the city's Law Department, which handles litigation on the city's behalf, said the agency had not yet been served with the lawsuit or reviewed it.

New York State Correction Law and DOC's own policy prohibit full-body restraints on a known pregnant detainee absent extraordinary circumstances justified in writing; the suit alleges none applied here. The complaint cites two prior settlements — Jane Doe v. City of New York and Jane Doe II v. City of New York — in which the city paid close to $1 million in each case over similar shackling and agreed to stop the practice, implement tracking logs, and enforce a "No Restraints List." It also cites New York City Board of Correction non-compliance reports and findings from the Correctional Association of New York and The Legal Aid Society that shackling bans for pregnant detainees are routinely bypassed by frontline officers, alleging the city knew of the practice and allowed it to continue.