A Wisconsin policy that allowed correctional officers to shackle a female inmate in a Fond du Lac prison while she gave birth should be outlawed, according to a report released by a human rights organization.

Amnesty International USA called the practice inhumane, though one Department of Corrections official said shackles are sometimes necessary when an inmate is a flight risk. State Corrections Secretary Matt Frank said that he has since directed his employees to end the use of restraints on pregnant inmates during labor, delivery and recovery.

Amnesty's report "Abuse of Women in Custody: Sexual Misconduct and Shackling of Pregnant Women," is in part a response to the experience of Samantha Luther, a former inmate at Taycheedah Correctional Institution near Fond du Lac. Luther was shackled throughout most of her baby's birth last year.

Amnesty calls the practice of restraining a woman in labor "a cruel, inhumane and degrading practice that seldom has any justification in terms of security concerns."

But Samantha Galligan, a correctional officer at Taycheedah, disagreed.

"I think it's necessary to have them restrained in some way because if a pregnant inmate takes off, then what do you do?" Galligan said. "You can't tackle them. If you try to restrain her and you do something to her or her baby, it's going to be your fault."

Ana Boatwright, warden of Wisconsin's women's correctional system, said the policy changes have already been made. She said a written policy has been drafted and should be approved soon by a committee convened to work on issues specific to female inmates. Amnesty commends the policy but urges state legislatures to pass laws that ban the use of restraints on pregnant and laboring inmates. Only Illinois and California have such laws.