Guidelines for Emergency Restraint Chair Use

In a county jail outside Texas, more detail is provided about the use of restraint chairs.

One of the rules is that when inmates are placed in the Safety Restraint Chair, they must wear the AliveLock Monitoring System or an alternative like it. This is specifically designed to let staff know when an inmate’s vital signs change in association with restraint, seclusion events, and medical emergencies.

The following are instances when the Emergency Restraint Chair may be used to protect inmates:

• To restrict violent movements
• To prevent inmates from striking their head on the floor, wall, or other surfaces
• To allow staff to move the inmate safely with virtually no risk of harm to the jailer, inmate, or any other person
• To confine an inmate to a stable fixture
• To reduce the possibility of serious self-harm

These are the requirements for placing an inmate in a restraint chair:

• Make sure that the handcuffs are secured to both hands and both legs have leg irons.
• Secure each of the chair straps, making sure they are snug.
• Check to be sure the chair restraints do not restrict the breathing of the inmate and don’t cut off the circulation to the extremities.
• The inmate must be isolated from other inmates.
• Place the inmate facing the cell door.
• Secure the inmate and then contact the medical staff to examine the inmate.

Learn more in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7 of this ongoing series.

Helping inmates with helpful resources is the purpose of this website. There is no intention of suggesting that people or organizations have been involved in misdeeds.

–Guest Contributor