Ombudsman says Scott County jail violated state law

[rpannier]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The Scott County jail violated state law and internal policies when staff restrained a woman for more than five consecutive hours in a chair, the state ombudsman's office said in a report released Wednesday.

Lillian Slater, who has sickle-cell anemia, was restrained with her hands cuffed behind her back in a restraint chair during her stay at the jail in January 2006, the report said.

A video and a review of jail records showed Slater spent a total of about seven hours restrained in the chair -- just over five hours consecutively, the report said.

Ombudsman Bill Angrick said the use of the restraints on Slater violated state law and amounted to excessive force.

snip

Under county rules, a supervisor must approve before an inmate can be restrained for more than four hours, and no such authorization was found, the report said.


link:
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=344117&query=

on note:Some of the comments under the story are amazing. It stuns me how many people miss the whole point of the Ombudsman's report

[PDJane]

1. Lord and Lady, people.

Sickle-cell anemia is a serious medical condition. Not to mention which, keeping anyone confined for seven hours in a restraint chair is extremely poor practice, and more than a little dangerous. Those things can and have killed people.

For a supposedly "Christian" nation, there's a huge lack of compassion there.