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The Restraint Chair: Safe and Humane?
Loaded on Sept. 15, 2000
by Anne-Marie Cusac
published in Prison Legal News
September, 2000, page 1
Jail and prison employees call it the "strap-o-lounger," the "barcalounger," the "we care chair," and the "be sweet chair." Prisoners and their lawyers have other names for the device: "torture chair," "slave chair," and "devil's chair." They are not referring to the electric chair, but to a restraining device that …
Filed under:
DOC/BOP misconduct,
Jail Misconduct,
Excessive Force,
Guard Brutality/Beatings,
Restraints,
Damages,
Settlements,
Mental Health.
Locations:
Arizona,
California,
Connecticut,
Florida,
Georgia,
Missouri,
Oregon,
Texas,
Utah,
Washington,
United States of America.
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More from this issue:
- The Restraint Chair: Safe and Humane?, by Anne-Marie Cusac
- Prison Realty/CCA Bailout Deal Canceled
- Deviant Doctors Dumped on Prisoners
- Former Political Prisoner Settles Suit for $4.5 Million
- Penis Stomping Guard Loses Appeal
- PLN Sues Nevada DOP
- WA and IN Prison Phone Rates Challenged
- Pro Se Tips and Tactics, by John Midgley
- The Ride: Rise of the NLR, by Willie Wisely
- Colorado DOC Attacks Jailhouse Lawyers
- Sex Offender Label May Require Due Process
- Change in Fulton County, GA: Indigent Defense, HIV, and Community Organizing, by Lisa Zahren
- Prison Physician Liable for Refusal of Care, by Ronald Young
- Washington Earned Early Release Credits Create Due Process Liberty Interests, by Mark Cook
- Fines Against WA Civil Commitment Center Stayed, by Dan Pens
- U.S. Parole Commission Retaliation Reversed, by Scott Fleming
- $53,000 Settlement in AL Conditions Suit
- Counsel Awarded High EAJA Fee Despite Contingency Fee in BOP Rape Suit, by Mark Cook
- Bush's Conservative Compassion: Allowing a Life Sentence for Three Bounced Checks
- Censorship challenged in CO DOC
- News in Brief
- No Qualified Immunity from ETS Exposure
- Two Guards Killed During Botched Missouri Jail Escape
- Race-Based Religious Policy Violates Equal Protection Clause
More from Anne-Marie Cusac:
- Former Pennsylvania DOC Director Hired to Run CDCR, April 15, 2013
- Shocked and Stunned: The Growing Use of Tasers, June 15, 2005
- Abu Ghraib, USA, July 15, 2004
- Ill Treatment on Our Shores, Aug. 15, 2002
- You're in the Hole: A Crackdown on Dissident Prisoners, Feb. 15, 2002
- "The Judge Gave Me Ten Years--He Didn't Sentence Me to Death", March 15, 2001
- The Restraint Chair: Safe and Humane?, Sept. 15, 2000
More from these topics:
- ACLU Threatens New Lawsuit After Indiana County’s Repeated Failures to Abide by 17-Year-Old Settlement Agreement, May 1, 2026. Overcrowding, Exercise, Sanitation, Bedding, Settlements.
- Washington Governor Fires Independent Prison Watchdog, May 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Government Misconduct, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Restraints, Administrative Detention/Segregation.
- Atlanta Jail Boasts Improvements Since Consent Decree, Reports from Monitor and ACLU Are More Critical, May 1, 2026. Staffing, Sanitation, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Consent Decrees, Bail/Pretrial Release.
- Hospital Keeps Sending Detainees Back Without Care to County Jail in Colorado, May 1, 2026. Jail Misconduct, Private Contractors, Failure to Treat, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Deliberate Indifference.
- Idaho DOC Director Denies Verified Report of Rampant Sexual Abuse of Women Prisoners by Staff, May 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Retaliatory Segregation, Prison Rape Elimination Act.
- Oklahoma DOC Paid Prison Guards $35.5 Million in Overtime in 2025, May 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Cost of Prison Systems, Totality of Conditions, Staffing, Staff Training.
- Monitor Says Massachusetts Prisons Will Not Meet Settlement Deadline for Mental Health Reforms, May 1, 2026. Private Prisons, DOC/BOP misconduct, Consent Decrees, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides.
- Watchdog Finds Barely 1 in 10 Complaints Against California Prison Staff Handled Adequately, May 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Evidence, Staff Training, Statutes of Limitation and Laches.
- Six Maryland Guards Convicted in Prisoner’s Beating, Cover-up; § 1983 Suit Filed, May 1, 2026. Guard Brutality/Beatings, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Obstruction of Justice, Wrongful Use of Force, Evidence - Destruction/Fabrication/Manipulation of.
- Seventh Circuit Upholds Liability but Reverses Damages in Lawsuit Over Illinois Warden and Investigator Using Prisoner as Bait to Catch Staff Member Raping Her, May 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Failure to Protect (General), Damages, Evidentiary Ruling, Cruel and Unusual Punishment.