Vernon L. Brooks Jr. was distraught.
Forced into a chair in a jail cell with a black mesh hood over his head, he panicked as he felt officers tighten straps like tourniquets around his wrists and restrain his ankles and chest.
When he screamed he couldn’t breathe, officers removed the hood but kept him restrained for three and a half hours, unable to move. He felt like his circulation was cut off, and he lost feeling in his hands – a numbness he said persisted months afterward.
Brooks had been on a date with his wife at a local haunt that night when he was arrested for what he says was ultimately a paperwork mistake. Believing he was being unjustly detained, he yelled and cursed at officers who put him in a restraint chair at the county jail.
While the officers say Brooks resisted, fought and threatened them, Brooks disagrees with the characterization and says the use of a restraint chair was unwarranted, traumatizing and inhumane.
It’s not an uncommon experience.
A nine-month investigation by the Illinois Answers Project found county jails in the state restrain people in chairs on average more than 1,000 times a year, often in ways that violate their own policies and last longer than recommended by leading standards and manufacturer guidelines, causing physical injuries and psychological trauma to people commonly grappling with mental illness and addiction.
