Update: January 2024
We have published an article, Human Rights in Hospitals: An End to Routine Shackling, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, describing our advocacy work in translating human rights principles into practice by enacting and implementing change to the policy for the care of patients who are incarcerated at Boston Medical Center.
We continue to work on implementation, education, and awareness of the policy at Boston Medical Center and SSP continues to grow as we aim to implement similar policies at institutions across the country. If you would like to join our task force, bring this policy to your hospital, or have other questions, please contact us.
In October 2021, first-year medical students at Boston University School of Medicine teamed up to call for better care of incarcerated patients at their teaching hospital, Boston Medical Center. After months of research, conversations, and strategizing, the team wrote and published the Stop Shackling Patients: Petition. It highlighted arguments against the use of shackles in healthcare settings and proposed steps for change.
The Petition garnered 780 signatories of varying healthcare professionals, policymakers, and community leaders spanning 129 different institutions! The Petition’s success allowed for collaboration with Boston Medical Center executive leadership to revise hospital policy for implementation in 2023.
Between February of 2022 and February of 2023, at Boston Medical Center, executives and clinical leaders, the Office of the General Counsel, and Public Safety collaborated with this trio of medical students to humanize care for patients who are incarcerated by amending hospital policy. In addition to existing clinical assessments surrounding metal shackles, the amended policy now enables healthcare providers to assess whether incarcerated patients meet Special Circumstances (e.g., quadriplegia, sedation, or palliative care), and advocate for shackle removal.
The Coalition has since expanded, and other institutions in Massachusetts and beyond are developing similar policies at their hospitals. Ultimately, the Stop Shackling Patients Coalition aims to end the universal shackling of justice-involved patients as they receive care in hospitals and provide these patients with exceptional and equitable care.
If you are interested in joining the movement or improving policy at your healthcare institutions, please contact us.
Stop Shackling Patients 