Editing Ann Widdecombe (section)

===In government===
[[File:Ann Widdecombe as a Minister of State.jpg|thumb|Official Portrait {{Circa|1995–1997}}]]
Widdecombe joined Prime Minister [[John Major]]'s government as [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State]] for Social Security in 1990. In 1993, she was moved to the [[Department of Employment]], and she was promoted to [[Minister of State]] the following year. In 1995, she joined the [[Home Office]] as Minister of State for Prisons and visited every prison in the UK.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/talking_politics/104160.stm|title=Ann Widdecombe&nbsp;– political sketch |work=BBC Online |access-date=17 June 2009 |date=2 June 1998 |location=London}}</ref>

In 1996, Widdecombe, as prisons minister, defended the Government's policy to [[Use of restraints on pregnant women|shackle pregnant prisoners]] with handcuffs and chains when in hospital receiving prenatal care. Widdecombe told the Commons that the restrictions were needed to prevent prisoners from escaping the hospital. "Some MPs may like to think that a pregnant woman would not or could not escape. Unfortunately this is not true. The fact is that hospitals are not secure places in which to keep prisoners, and since 1990, 20 women have escaped from hospitals". [[Jack Straw]], Labour's Home Affairs spokesman at the time, said it was "degrading and unnecessary" for a woman to be shackled at any stage.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chaining-women-backed-1323238.html|title=Chaining women backed|date=10 January 1996|work=The Independent|access-date=20 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101012143641/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chaining-women-backed-1323238.html|archive-date=12 October 2010 |url-status=live|location=London}}</ref><ref name="Hague's head girl">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/mar/18/fiction1|title=Hague's head girl|date=18 March 2000|work=The Guardian|access-date=20 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100916011112/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/mar/18/fiction1|archive-date=16 September 2010 |url-status=live|location=London}}</ref>