Image courtesy of Safety Restraint Chair, Inc.
So-called “safety-restraint chairs,” the subject of scrutiny post-9/11 at Guantanamo Bay, are deemed torture devices by the United Nations, yet restraint chairs are used in county jails hundreds of times per year, often in ways that cause physical injuries and psychological trauma to people commonly grappling with mental illness and addiction, Grace Hauck of the Pekin Daily Times (Ill.) reports.
While human rights groups have long decried the use of restraint chairs in American jails and prisons, the Prairie State’s county jail standards lack information about the use of restraint chairs. According to Grace Hauck of the Illinois Answers Project, at least 11 incarcerated individuals have filed federal civil rights complaints related to the use of restraint chairs in Illinois since 2013.
One such inmate, Vernon L. Brooks, Jr. experienced the nightmarish sensation of being forced into a restraint chair while having a black mesh hood placed over his head while his wrists, ankles and chest were strapped tightly like tourniquets. Brooks, Jr. was incapacitated for nearly four hours, which consequently cut off the circulation to his hands — an event that led him to experience numbness for months afterward, he claims, adding that the use of the restraint chair was unwarranted, traumatizing and inhumane.
The Illinois Answers Project conducted a nine-month investigation, which found that restraint chairs in county jails in the state are used 1,000 times per year, on average, often in ways that violate their own policies and last longer than recommended by leading standards and manufacturer guidelines. The Illinois Answers Project says that the case of Brooks, Jr., who has not been convicted of a crime as of this writing, is by no means the most extreme example. Yet, the Project asserts that his case is “a prime example of the now-normalized practice happening daily in jails.”
Approximately 18 months after being restrained and losing feeling in his hands, Brooks, a former Navy sailor, still receives treatment for nerve damage, for which he requires medication. The injury to his hand has greatly interfered with his ability to pursue his longtime art hobby. Frequently experiencing tingling in his hands, and flashbacks from the trauma, Brooks only recently started drawing again but often drops things.
The United Nations Committee Against Torture has urged U.S. officials to abolish the chairs, and Amnesty International has said inadequate training and supervision of their use has caused pain, injury and even death.
Although the general public may have little sympathy for how murderers, rapists and other violent criminals are punished, many prisoners who have been restrained in chairs are non-violent. Take Brooks, Jr., for instance. In 2020, he slammed a door in an apartment building over a century old, causing a piece of plaster to fall off the wall. He was charged with one count of criminal damage to property less than $300 and sentenced to community service. Records prove that he completed 15 hours of community service at a church, however, the pastor at the church failed to submit the paperwork. Unbeknownst to Brooks, Jr., a warrant was issued for his arrest in 2022, and one month later, he was arrested. Confused as to why he was being arrested, Brooks, who is Black, believed he had been apprehended because of his race.
Incarcerated individuals who were restrained in chairs also include veterans, young men and women struggling with addiction, and people who banged on their cell because they wanted a shower or phone call, reveals the Illinois Answers Project, which adds that many prisoners were restrained while naked and that some had urinated or defecated on themselves. Other restrained prisoners saw their hands and feet swell, go cold and turn purple, while many prisoners still experience nightmares years later.
Restraint chairs have been linked to more than 50 deaths in the United States since the late 1990s, according to investigations by The Marshall Project and USA TODAY. The deaths have been tied to blood clots, suffocation and overdoses that went untreated while restrained. People have also died after jail staff Tased or pepper sprayed them while restrained or failed to provide food, water and medication.
Safety Restraint Chair Inc., which makes the chairs used by many Illinois jails, advises that detainees should not be left in a chair for more than two hours. However, in Illinois, there have been almost 20 incidents that exceeded 20 hours in restraint chairs; detainees held for the longest periods often have been diagnosed with mental illnesses or had expressed suicidal ideation, leading Dr. Terry Kupers, an expert on psychiatric health care in custodial settings, to conclude, “Someone who’s suicidal should not be in a restraint chair. Period.”
Restraint chairs are supposed to be used as a last measure of safety, when detainees refuse to comply with booking procedures, are intoxicated, or threaten to harm others. However, Illinois and several other states are using them, at best, incorrectly, and at worse, in a manner that poses significant risks to the safety and well-being of inmates, potentially leading to severe physical and psychological harm.
According to Hauck of the Illinois Answers Project, at least 11 people have filed federal civil rights complaints over the use of restraint chairs in Illinois since 2013. Two were settled, three are ongoing, three were dismissed, and three were found in favor of the sheriff’s department and jail staff. Nearly all detainees have represented themselves. Some have sought recourse through other avenues, including two volunteer-run advocacy groups. Others said they didn’t know who to turn to, believed too much time had passed, or didn’t want to pursue it.
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