Thirty-two-year-old David Salinas died in pre-custodial status with the Houston Police Department. According to a custodial death report prepared by the police department, Mr. Salinas died on July 14, 2021, as a result of a gunshot wound.  Homicide was listed as the cause of death.

Restraint Chairs Continued

Studies have found that restraint chairs increase the risk of suffering potentially fatal blood clots or a pulmonary embolism. The risk is heightened by immobility in the chair that is followed by some type of physical trauma. Unfortunately, force is typically required to place inmates in restraint chairs as they are often in an uncooperative and combative state at the time. 

A watchdog group conducted a six-year study in which restraint chairs are linked to 20 custodial deaths.

 When a person is in a restraint chair, their arms, legs, and torso are immobilized using straps and belts. When an extremely intoxicated person is kept in a restraint chair for an extended period, reports show that they can overdose or develop blood clots and die. An example is cited of a 29-year-old inmate who had been strapped into a restraint chair for 16 hours. He developed a blood clot in his lungs and died.  As a result, that state outside of Texas banned the use of the chair.

Manufacturers of restraint chairs add the following types of warnings to their instruction manuals:

• Take special measures to ensure that restraints do not cut off the circulation to a person’s extremities when they are in the chair.
• Caution: Remove leg irons and handcuffs as soon as possible to prevent injury.
• Caution: When a person exhibits violent behavior, it could be that they are masking hazardous medical conditions. Continuously monitor detainees and provide medical care, as needed.

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

There is not an intention on this website to make a suggestion that any person or entity has engaged in misdeeds. Helping inmates incarcerated in Texas county jails is the purpose of posts on this website.

–Guest Contributor