Continuation of Texas Juvenile Justice Department Rule §351.46–Restraint Chair

The following are the remaining guidelines for the level of supervision that must be provided when a resident in a Texas juvenile facility is in a restraint chair:

• The supervision of inmates who have been placed in a restraint chair cannot be provided by primary control room staff because they do not have the authorization to provide such constant visual observation duties.
• Video monitoring and or audio monitoring cannot serve as a substitute for continuous visual observation of an inmate in a restraint chair.

Texas Commission on Jail Standards Rule §273.6-Restraints

The guidelines for using restraint chairs in adult city and county jail facilities in Texas are the same as the guidelines for all approved restraints. Unlike juvenile rules that allow a maximum of five hours in a restraint chair, adults could potentially remain in the chair for up to 24 hours total. The following is conveyed in the rules along those lines:

At the earliest possible time when an inmate no longer exhibits behavior that necessitates restriction of movement in a restraint device, the restraints shall be removed from the inmate. In no case can an inmate remain in restraints longer than 24 hours.

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

The purpose of this website is to provide municipal and county jail inmates in Texas with access to information that could be of benefit. On this site, it is never intended to implicate individuals or institutions in acts of wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor