On the fifth day I was allowed up for about 20 minutes to take a shower and to clean my cell. I was kept in handcuffs and leg shackles while I did this, and then I was returned to four-point restraints. He claims to have been checked only sporadically by medical personnel. The Southern Center says this kind of treatment violates recommendations established in the wake of a 1998 investigative series by The Hartford Courant. The paper detailed the misuse of restraints that led to the deaths of 142 mentally ill or retarded people.
Improper restraints can cause fatal blood clots or suffocation.
Guidelines now call for four-point to be closely supervised by a doctor and used for no more than two hours at a single stretch and eight hours overall. When the inmate is restrained to a bed, staff shall periodically rotate the inmate's position to avoid soreness or stiffness. What appears to be widespread use of four-point restraints in federal prisons has received little attention from members of Congress. Stephen Bright, head of the Southern Center, wrote Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch last month, seeking an inquiry into the practice and hearings. The center subsequently learned Hatch had no intention of holding hearings.