The custodial death report (CDR) about Juan Herrera was prepared by the Midland County Sheriff’s Department in Midland, Texas. The CDR indicates that the type of custody 14-year-old Herrera was in at the time of death was pre-custodial use of force. The teen died on March 3, 2022, at the scene of the incident in which a Midland County Deputy discharged his firearm while in foot pursuit of him.

Restraint Chairs

The Texas Juvenile Justice Department provides details on the use of restraint chairs that aren’t included in the Texas Code that guides the adult operations of Texas county jails. The following are among the requirements related to restraint chairs:

• Only professionally manufactured restraint chairs that have been approved by the juvenile board can be used in Texas juvenile facilities.
• There are only certain times when a restraint chair can be used. They include for the prevention of self-injury and injury to others and when an inmate is displaying disruptive or extremely aggressive behavior.
• Supervision of a resident in a restraint chair and placing a resident in a restraint chair can only be performed by a detention or probation officer who has had training in the proper use of the restraint chair.
• An inmate must be released from the restraint chair as soon as he or she is no longer a threat to themselves or others and also the inmate can be reasonably controlled by the jail staff.
• Every 10 minutes, consideration must be made to remove an inmate from the restraint chair.

Learn more in Part 1 of this ongoing series.

There is not an intention on this website to make inferences that wrongdoing may have occurred on the part of individuals or entities. Helping inmates by posting information beneficial to county jail prisoners in Texas is the purpose of the posts on this site.

–Guest Contributor