The Illinois Answers Project’s “Strapped Down” series investigated the overuse, misuse and abuse of restraint chairs in county jails across Illinois.
The investigation revealed that, from 2019 to 2023:
- In Illinois, jails restrained people in chairs on average more than 1,000 times a year. Jails often restrained people for longer than recommended and failed to provide timely mental health and medical attention.
- According to manufacturer guidelines and state and county policies, restraint chairs should only be used for brief periods as a last resort in emergency situations when someone is a danger to themselves, others, or property, or for transport. The United Nations Committee Against Torture and Amnesty International have called to ban their use.
- Many of the people restrained had a mental illness or substance abuse disorder, and some said staff used the chair in lieu of treatment. Sheriffs and jail administrators, meanwhile, said they don’t have the staffing, space, or resources to handle extreme mental health crises, and they face systemic delays in transferring people to state psychiatric facilities.
- The investigation honed in on a handful of counties:
- At Coles County Jail, staff strapped people down and then shocked them with a “stun cuff” — a sort of shock collar for humans attached at the leg.
- At Franklin County Jail, staff restrained two mentally ill men for 68 and 27 hours.
- At Peoria County Jail, staff restrained two mentally ill men for multiple days.
- At Madison County Jail, staff restrained people for more than ten hours (the manufacturer’s limit) dozens of times.
- And at Champaign County Jail and Cook County Jail, staff failed to report restraint chair incidents to the state unit that monitors jails.
Illinois Answers also investigated how three other states are responding to restraint chair misuse.
Sebastián Hidalgo is an independent reporter and Pulitzer Prize contributing photojournalist in Chicago. His work focuses on the intersection of U.S. criminal and immigration enforcement.
