RESTRAINTS KILL, MAIM INMATES THROUGH IMPROPER USE, IG SAYS

The Dept of Justice Office of Inspector General reported in a memorandum last week that BOP policies governing the use of physical restraints on inmates are inadequate.

BOP policy allows the use of restraints to gain control of disruptive inmates, ranging from ambulatory restraints that allow limited freedom of movement to four-point restraints and waist chains that render prisoners immobile from the neck down. Policy dictates that restraints are to be used only as a last resort and never as a method of punishment.

A 2022 Marshall Project/NPR investigation uncovered restraint abuses at USP Thomson. “Specifically,” the report said, “many men reported being shackled in cuffs so tight they left scars, or being ‘four-pointed’ and chained by each limb to a bed for hours, far beyond what happens at other prisons and in violation of bureau policy and federal regulations.” A subsequent  Marshall Project/NPR investigation last December reported on dozens of similar restraint abuse allegations of prolonged shackling and abuse at USP Lee.

The IG said it had received “numerous allegations every year regarding abuse, mistreatment, or injury of inmates in connection with the use of restraints, including four-point restraints.”  Between August 2022 and August 2023, complaints about four-point restraints alone numbered in the “dozens.”

Multiple complaints alleged inmates “suffered nerve damage or other long-term injuries due to the prolonged use of restraints. For example, one inmate suffered long-term scarring and was provisionally diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome due to ongoing complaints of wrist numbness after being held in four-point restraints for over 3 days…” The IG said, “[A]nother inmate suffered severe injury requiring the amputation of part of the inmate’s limb after being held in a combination of ambulatory restraints and a restraint chair for over 2 days.”

“The inmate’s injury worsened to the point of needing hospitalization and amputation despite medical checks occurring at time intervals that complied with policy,” the memo stated. “The medical checks were completed by different medical staff who did not discuss the progression of the inmate’s injuries between shifts, and there were no photographs or video recordings to document that a medical check was actually performed and to show the progression of the inmate’s injuries.”

In another case, the IG said, a prisoner was “placed in a restraint chair with restraints on both wrists and both ankles for more than 2 days and then, less than 2 hours after being released from restraints, sprayed by BOP staff with pepper spray following an alleged altercation with a cellmate and placed back in the restraint chair for another approximately 5 hours until being discovered unresponsive.” The autopsy listed the cause of death as “Vaso-Occlusive Crisis due to Sickle Cell Disease Complicating Oleoresin Capsicum Use and Prolonged Restraint Following Altercation.”

The memo recommended improving guidelines and training on the use of restraints, strengthening reporting requirements, and requiring audio and video recording of health checks of inmates in restraints.

DOJ Inspector General, Notification of Concerns Regarding the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Policies Pertaining to the Use of Restraints on Inmates (June 30, 2025)

The Marshall Project and NPR, How the Newest Federal Prison Became One of the Deadliest (May 31, 2022)

Thomas L. Root