A small victory for human decency:

The secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections says he has directed his staff to end the use of restraints on pregnant inmates during labor, delivery and recovery.

"I believe that we can have a policy that protects safety and security but still allows for a woman offender to have a baby without having restraints on," Matt Frank told The Post-Crescent newspaper Wednesday after it reported on the practice earlier this week....

Well, good for him -- but he can just forget about getting a job with the Bush administration.

Here's that Post-Crescent story, by the way. In it, we were assured the old way was very humane:

Inmates ... have the option of wearing plastic ties in lieu of the heavy shackles...

Oh, that makes me feel much better.

The story also tells us that, as of 2001, twenty-one U.S. states followed this practice.