The custodial death report (CDR) filed about  Edgar Alejandro Hernandez provides a summary of how the 28-year-old’s death occurred. A Brownsville Police Department City Jail Detention Officer discovered him unresponsive inside Cell #105 at approximately 2:35 AM on November 29, 2022. Assistance was requested, and chest compressions commenced in an attempt to revive Mr. Hernandez.

Dangers Associated with Restraint Chairs

Restraint chairs are controversial restraint devices that have been outlawed in various jurisdictions throughout the US. A news report covering multiple restraint chair deaths in one state says that an inability to properly respond to medical emergencies is one of the causes of death. Problems that are known to have occurred in restraint chairs include:

• Prisoners convulse in the chair, causing damage to their bodies.
• Blood clots can form when an inmate has been in a restraint chair for an excessive amount of time, and the clots lead to death when the inmate is released from the chair.
• Inmates choke on their own vomit.
• Inmates have violently thrown themselves against walls while in a restraint chair.
• Many reports have been made regarding inmates in restraint chairs being pepper sprayed by jailers.

Rules of restraint chair use are found in Title 37, Part 11, Chapter 351, Subchapter D of the Texas Administrative Code. The rules apply to the Texas juvenile justice department.

Learn more in Part 1, Part 2, and this ongoing series.

Inmates who have been detained in county and municipal jails in Texas can find helpful resources on this website. Suggesting that any organization or person has participated in wrongs is never an intention.

–Guest Contributor