Thirty-eight-year-old Wallace Howell was behaving in a threatening manner during the process of booking shortly after he arrived at Ector County Jail in Odessa, Texas, on June 15, 2020. He was placed in a padded cell with restraints. When he was being monitored soon afterward, he was found nonresponsive and within a short time was pronounced dead.

Manufacturers of restraint chairs include numerous warnings to be heeded when using the device, including the following:

• If the person using the restraint chair has not read and understood the instructions, the person being restrained could suffer serious injury or die.
• A restraint chair must not be used for punitive purposes.
• Monitor the restraints to ensure that circulation has not been cut off.
• There are times when violent behavior masks dangerous medical conditions. Continuously monitor anyone detained in a restraint chair, and provide medical treatment as needed.
• To prevent injury, leg irons and handcuffs must be removed as soon as possible.
• To ensure adequate blood flow, straps and belts may need loosening.
• The time limit for detaining someone in a restraint chair is 2 hours. An extension of this time limit must be done under the direct medical supervision of a doctor or nurse. If necessary, time in the chair can be extended for an additional 8 hours but no more than 10 hours total is not recommended.
• Studies show that the risk of potentially fatal blood clots is increased when a person has been immobilized after physical trauma.

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series.

Posts on this site are intended as potentially helpful resources for county jail inmates in Texas. There is never any intention in any blog post or page on this website to infer wrongs on institutions or persons.

–Guest Contributor