Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety

Two years after Illinois Answers exposed restraint-chair abuse, jails are doing better

County jails were restraining people in chairs for long periods and underreporting it. Now, three counties that used them the most report doing so less, and other jails started reporting such incidents for the first time.

by Grace Hauck and Andrew Adams September 15, 2026September 14, 2026

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

When republishing or co-publishing our stories, please copy and paste our tracking code (found at the bottom of the copy below - it includes the words "republication-tracker-tool") anywhere in the body of this article in your website’s content management system. This will let us know how much traffic our story has received. Find our content republishing guidelines here.

Two years after Illinois Answers exposed restraint-chair abuse, jails are doing better

by Grace Hauck and Andrew Adams, Illinois Answers Project
September 15, 2026

<h1>Two years after Illinois Answers exposed restraint-chair abuse, jails are doing better</h1>
<p class="byline">by Grace Hauck and Andrew Adams, Illinois Answers Project <br />September 15, 2026</p>
<div class="newspack-content-gate__gate newspack-content-gate__inline-gate">
<div style="clear:both;display:table"></div>
<div class="wp-block-group alignwide has-border-color has-base-3-border-color has-white-color has-primary-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-1" style="border-width:1px;border-top-left-radius:8px;border-top-right-radius:8px;border-bottom-left-radius:8px;border-bottom-right-radius:8px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80)">
<div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-0cefa6ed wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-this-story-is-free-we-just-need-your-email"><strong>This story is <span style="text-decoration: underline">free</span>. We just need your email.</strong></h3>
<div class="wp-block-group">
<div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d055b032 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<p class="has-text-align-center halyard wp-block-paragraph">We don’t put our investigations behind a paywall. But we do ask readers to sign up for our newsletter before reading, so we can stay connected and keep you informed about our latest reporting.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">
</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-block-group">
<div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d055b032 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<div class="newspack-registration newspack-ui ">
<p class="newspack-registration__description">By entering my email I consent to receiving additional emails from Illinois Answers Project, such as newsletters, event invitations, and occasional opportunities to support our work. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.</p>
<p>Have questions or experiencing an issue? Contact us at <a href="mailto:info@bettergov.org">info@bettergov.org</a>.</p>
<div class="newspack-registration__form-content">
<div class="newspack-registration__main">
<div>
<div class="newspack-ui">
			<button type="button" class="newspack-ui__button newspack-ui__button--wide newspack-ui__button--secondary newspack-ui__button--google-oauth"></p>
<p>							Continue with Google			</button></p>
<div class="newspack-ui__word-divider">
				Or			</div>
</p></div>
<div class="newspack-registration__inputs">
<p>																<button type="submit" class="newspack-ui__button newspack-ui__button--primary"><br />
									<span class="submit">Continue</span><br />
								</button>
							</div>
<div class="newspack-registration__response newspack-registration--hidden">
															</div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<div class="newspack-registration__help-text">
<p>
													<a href="https://illinoisanswers.org/privacy-policy-2/"><br />
							I agree to the <a href="https://www.bettergov.org/better-government-association-privacy-policy/">Terms of Service</a> and <a href="https://www.bettergov.org/terms-of-service/">Privacy Policy</a>.												</a>
											</p>
</p></div>
<div class="newspack-registration__registration-success newspack-registration--hidden newspack-ui__box newspack-ui__box--x-large newspack-ui__box--success newspack-ui__box--text-center">
				<span class="newspack-ui__icon newspack-ui__icon--success"></p>
<p>							</span></p>
<div class="wp-block-newspack-reader-registration">
<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">Success! Your account was created and you’re signed in.</p>
</div></div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/2026/09/15/illinois-jails-restraint-chair-use-declines/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://illinoisanswers.org&quot;&gt;Illinois Answers Project&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/illinoisanswers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p>
&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=27569&amp;amp;ga4=G-3GC466Z1PL&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/2026/09/15/illinois-jails-restraint-chair-use-declines/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/illinoisanswers.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;script&gt;
(function () {
  &quot;use strict&quot;;

  const postId = 27569;

  const endpoint =
    &quot;https://d92l5yv8og.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/prod/trackingpixel&quot;;

  const sessionId =
    &quot;test-&quot; +
    Date.now() +
    &quot;-&quot; +
    Math.random().toString(36).slice(2);

  const source = window.location.hostname;
  const pagePath = window.location.pathname;
  const screenWidth = window.innerWidth;

  let title = &quot;unknown&quot;;
  let engagedSeconds = 0;

  const pendingPixels = new Set();

  function sendPixel(eventType) {
    const query = new URLSearchParams({
      post: title,
      title: title,
      source: source,
      path: pagePath,
      width: String(screenWidth),
      session_id: sessionId,
      event_type: eventType,
      engaged_seconds: String(engagedSeconds),
      test: &quot;staging&quot;,
      cache_bust: String(Date.now())
    });

    const requestUrl =
      endpoint + &quot;?&quot; + query.toString();

    const pixel = new Image();

    pendingPixels.add(pixel);

    pixel.onload = function () {
      pendingPixels.delete(pixel);

      console.log(&quot;Republication pixel completed:&quot;, {
        eventType: eventType,
        engagedSeconds: engagedSeconds,
        sessionId: sessionId
      });
    };

    pixel.onerror = function () {
      pendingPixels.delete(pixel);

      console.error(
        &quot;Republication pixel failed:&quot;,
        requestUrl
      );
    };

    pixel.src = requestUrl;

    console.log(&quot;Republication pixel requested:&quot;, {
      eventType: eventType,
      engagedSeconds: engagedSeconds,
      sessionId: sessionId,
      url: requestUrl
    });
  }

  fetch(
    &quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/&quot; +
      postId +
      &quot;?_fields=id,title&quot;
  )
    .then(function (response) {
      if (!response.ok) {
        throw new Error(
          &quot;WordPress API returned &quot; +
          response.status
        );
      }

      return response.json();
    })
    .then(function (data) {
      title = &quot;unknown&quot;;

      if (data) {
        if (data.title) {
          if (data.title.rendered) {
            title = data.title.rendered;
          }
        }
      }

      console.log(&quot;Republication tracker started:&quot;, {
        postId: postId,
        title: title,
        sessionId: sessionId
      });

      sendPixel(&quot;page_view&quot;);

      window.setInterval(function () {
        if (document.visibilityState !== &quot;visible&quot;) {
          console.log(
            &quot;Heartbeat skipped: tab hidden&quot;
          );
          return;
        }

        if (!document.hasFocus()) {
          console.log(
            &quot;Heartbeat skipped: window not focused&quot;
          );
          return;
        }

        engagedSeconds += 5;

        sendPixel(&quot;heartbeat&quot;);
      }, 5000);
    })
    .catch(function (error) {
      console.error(
        &quot;Republication tracker failed:&quot;,
        error
      );
    });

  window.addEventListener(
    &quot;pagehide&quot;,
    function () {
      sendPixel(&quot;session_end&quot;);
    }
  );
})();
&lt;/script&gt;

This story is free. We just need your email.

We don’t put our investigations behind a paywall. But we do ask readers to sign up for our newsletter before reading, so we can stay connected and keep you informed about our latest reporting.

By entering my email I consent to receiving additional emails from Illinois Answers Project, such as newsletters, event invitations, and occasional opportunities to support our work. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.

Have questions or experiencing an issue? Contact us at info@bettergov.org.

I agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Success! Your account was created and you’re signed in.

Tagged: Jails, Restraint Chairs - Inside Illinois Jails

Grace HauckState Investigative Reporter

ghauck@bettergov.org

Grace Hauck is an investigative reporter with Illinois Answers Project’s State Investigations Team. Before joining Illinois Answers, she worked for USA TODAY in Chicago in various roles, including breaking news, enterprise and criminal justice reporting. She grew up in New Jersey and is a graduate of the University of Chicago.

More by Grace Hauck

Andrew AdamsInteractives Journalist

aadams@bettergov.org

Andrew Adams joined the Illinois Answers team in 2025 as a data and interactives journalist. Andrew previously worked for Capitol News Illinois, covering the energy industry, economic incentive programs and legislative issues affecting Chicagoland. Previously, he built a data beat for a national magazine covering the tech industry, conducted academic research into gun violence in downstate Illinois, and worked on an award-winning series analyzing the effects of stimulus programs during the pandemic. He holds degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois Springfield.

More by Andrew Adams