Category: City Jails|County Jails|Restraint Chair|Restraints|Texas Commission on Jail Standards

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) provides the following guidelines, including how long a juvenile at a detention facility in Texas can remain in a restraint chair, as follows:

• After a resident has been examined by one of the following types of licensed medical professionals, the maximum of one hour in a restraint chair can be lengthened:
  • Paramedic
  • Emergency Medical Services personnel, such as EMS or fire rescue
  • Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
  • Physician (MD)
  • Registered Nurse (RN)
  • Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN)
  • Physician’s Assistant (PA)
• The maximum amount of time that a juvenile resident can be restrained in a restraint chair within a 24-hour period is 5 hours.
• More rules dictating the use of a restraint chair in a juvenile detention facility follow:
  • A facility administrator or designee must authorize each use of a restraint chair.
  • When a restraint chair is occupied, it will be placed within minimal visibility of other residents within the facility.
  • Each jail must establish provisions to ensure routine inspection and maintenance of the restraint chair.
• The following are prohibited with regard to restraint chairs:
  • Alteration, modification, or customization of a restraint chair in any manner that differentiates it from intended use and its original manufactured state.
  • Using a restraint chair to confine a detainee for no other reason other than being at high risk for committing suicide.

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this ongoing series. In the next segment, learn about requirements for medical care that must be administered when an inmate is in restraints.

All posts on this website are provided as helpful resources. There is never an intention in any of the site’s posts to make any sort of suggestion that an entity or person has been involved in impropriety.

–Guest Contributor

Kinney County Jail is in Brackettville, Texas 78832 at 109 North Street. The jail can be reached at the phone number (830) 563-2788. The inmate capacity at Kinney County Jail is 28. The Kinney County Sheriff has the duty of handling jail operations, and the responsibility includes adhering to minimum jail standards. Those standards are determined and enforced by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS).

Restraint Chairs

Jail facilities such as Kinney County Jail Are permitted to use various types of restraints. Among those that can be utilized according to TCJS guidelines is a restraint chair. The following criteria apply to the use of restraint chairs:

• The only types of restraint chairs that can be used are professionally manufactured and approved by TCJS.
• The following actions can only be taken by a detention officer who has been trained in the proper use of a restraint chair:
  • Provide authorization for an inmate to be placed in the chair and
  • Provide supervision of an inmate who has been placed in a restraint chair.
• The following guidelines pertain to length of confinement in a restraint chair:
  • As soon as inmates are no longer a threat to themselves or others and can be reasonably controlled by jail staff, they must be released.
  • A resident must be considered for removal from the restraint chair at certain intervals, depending on whether the inmate is an adult or juvenile.
  • The maximum amount of time that a juvenile can be confined in a restraint chair is 1 hour unless the facility administrator or designee authorizes lengthier confinement and only after the inmate has been examined by a licensed medical professional.

Posts on this website are provided for informational purposes. There is never an intention in any of the posts on this site to make an implication of any sort that an individual or entity has been involved in malfeasance.

–Guest Contributor

Kimble County Jail is in Junction, Texas 76849 at 415 Pecan Street. The jail can be contacted at the phone number (325) 446-2766. The inmate capacity at Kimble County Jail is 19. The Kimble County Sheriff handles jail operations, which includes conforming to minimum jail standards. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) establishes the rules and enforces the standards by conducting annual jail inspections. Facilities found to be non-compliant are subjected to heightened scrutiny.

Restraints

There are many different types of restraints that jail personnel can use in Texas jails as long as they are used according to TCJS rules. Mechanical restraints include handcuffs, ankle cuffs, and a waist belt. The following are additional restraint methods approved by TCJS:

• Approved Personal Restraint Technique – This restraint technique is curriculum-based, competency-based, and requires professional training. With this technique, a person’s physical exertion is used to partially or totally constrain the body movements of another person without the use of mechanical restraints.
• Chemical Restraint – A chemical agent can be applied for the restraint of one or more inmates.
• Non-Ambulatory Mechanical Restraint – This restraint technique is a method of prohibiting the ability of an inmate to walk and stand upright using a combination of approved cuffing techniques, mechanical restraint devices, and the body positioning of the subject. Examples of non-ambulatory mechanical restraints include a restraint chair and the four-point restraint.

Posts on this website are provided for informational purposes. There is never an intention in any of the posts on this site to make an implication of any sort that an individual or entity has been involved in malfeasance.

–Guest Contributor

Jones County Jail is in Anson, Texas 79501 at 2066 US 277. The jail can be contacted at the phone number (325) 823-3201. The inmate capacity at Jones County Jail is 96. The Jones County Sheriff is responsible for jail operations, which involves complying with minimum jail standards. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) sets jail requirements and inspects Texas jails annually to determine whether any detention facilities are non-compliant.

Mechanical Restraints

As is true in all Texas jails, Jones County Jail is allowed by rules set out in minimum jail standards to use restraints. Restraint devices are intended to control inmates due to behavior that is self-destructive, violent toward others, or combative. The risk of physical harm to jail staff and inmates is reduced with the use of restraints. There are various types of restraints, all of which must be used in accordance with rules provided by TCJS. Restraints are never to be used for disciplinary purposes. The following are some examples of approved mechanical restraint devices used in Texas jails:

• Ankle cuffs, which is a metal band designed to restrict the free movement of the legs by fastening it around the ankles.
• Handcuffs, which are metal devices that are fastened around the wrists to restrict the movement of the arms and hands.
• Waist belt, which is a leather, cloth, or metal band designed to fasten around the waist in order to secure arms to the front or sides of the body.
• Wristlet, which is a metal, leather, or cloth band to be fastened around the wrist, which may be secured to a waist belt.

Other types of restraint devices include restraint chairs, chemical restraint, and a non-ambulatory mechanical restraint.

The purpose of posts on this site is to provide information. There is never an intent on this website to make an inference of any sort that malfeasance has occurred on the part of any person or institution.

–Guest Contributor

Enforcement of minimum jail standards includes assurances of humane treatment of inmates. Partly because not everyone who is arrested for a crime is guilty of the alleged offense, the treatment of prisoners should be important to everyone. The use of restraint chairs is a particular matter of interest and potential concern because it involves more restrictive confinement. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) is the state institution that enforces minimum jail standards. As a result of a recent annual jail inspection by the TCJS, a county jail in Texas was found to be non-compliant with regard to the use of restraint chairs.

One of the jail standards is that the decision as to whether or not restraints will be applied must be made by medical personnel or supervisory personnel. Yet, documentation shows that at the particular jail recently cited for non-compliance, detention officers, not supervisory or medical personnel, had been making the decision to restrain detainees in the emergency restraint chair.

The same Jail Inspection Report shows that on multiple occasions the required 15 minutes between observations of an inmate kept in a restraint chair was exceeded by one minute to 15 minutes.

Under the Texas Administrative Code, there is a section about restraint chairs under the subchapter called “Restraints” in Part 11 Texas Juvenile Justice Department. It also covers physical restraint and mechanical restraint in other sections of the law. Texas rules dictate that the use of a restraint chair must be governed by certain criteria.

Learn more about Texas guidelines for the use of restraint devices in this ongoing series, which are different for juveniles as opposed to adults.

All posts on this site are informational resources. There is never an intention on this website to make any kind of implication that an entity or individual has been involved in impropriety of any sort.

–Guest Contributor

Disciplinary Sanctions Prohibited in Texas Jails

Inmates have certain rights, and those rights demand considerations with regard to how discipline can be administered in city and county jails in Texas. The following are actions that are not permitted, according to minimum jail standards set out by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards:

• An inmate cannot be subjected to a deviation from normal feeding routines.
• Corporal punishment is not permitted, which means no type of physical punishment is allowed.
• There can be no administration of any form of supervision or disciplinary actions by inmates.
• Inmates cannot be deprived of clothing or bedding. If, however, an inmate destroys bedding or clothing, they may be deprived of those items. The matter will be reviewed and documented every 24 hours.
• A “violent cell” must not be used as a form of punishment. A violent cell is a padded single-occupancy cell where inmates are temporarily held if they are exhibiting behavior indicating that they are a threat to themselves or others.
• An inmate cannot be deprived of items that are necessary to maintain personal hygiene on an acceptable level.
• An inmate cannot be deprived of physical exercise or physical recreation as a form of punishment.
• In Texas, an inmate cannot be deprived of correspondence privileges when the offense committed within the jail is unrelated to a violation of the regulations and rules of the institution as regards correspondence. In no case shall privileged correspondence be suspended.
• In a different section of the minimum jail standards, it is made clear that restraints such as restraint chairs cannot be used as a form of punishment.

See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this four-part series to learn about a jailer outside Texas charged with a crime for discipline administered against an inmate and for additional information in Texas regarding jail discipline from the minimum jail standards.

This website’s posts are meant as helpful resources. At no time is there an intention to make a suggestion of any kind that an individual or entity has engaged in wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor