Federal prisons want to increase use of restraints

The Bureau of Prisons is planning to propose a new rule to expand the use of restraints on inmates.

The plans were part of the agency’s rulemaking priorities announced in the Trump administration’s first Unified Regulatory Agenda released last week.

{mosads}The effort seems linked to a move to lower the use of solitary confinement and to protect prison workers struggling with reduced staff due to funding cuts.

The notice on the new regulatory agenda says the bureau will propose a rule to “permit the use of restraint equipment or devices to secure an inmate to a fixed object to facilitate participation in education, treatment, recreation, or religious programs.”

Groups advocating for the rights of prisoners say the rulemaking summary appears to pave the way for the use of restraint desks that are often bolted to the floor.

Dr. Homer Venters, director of programming at Physicians for Human Rights, said the use of restraint desks generally involves chaining an inmate’s hands to the top of the desk, with their ankles cuffed to an iron bar at the bottom.

In a statement to The Hill, the bureau called the notice “standard” and said it “has not formally proposed this rule.”

“It is the Bureau’s intention to create a safe environment where inmates have greater access to participate in education, treatment, recreation, or religious programs consistent with their medical or mental health condition,” the agency said.

“Please note that this is a draft regulation and the substance and dates associated with it are subject to change.”

It also said the rule would not change its policy barring the restraint of pregnant women.

It’s not clear what specifically might have instigated the new proposal. The American Correctional Association, a trade group that represents current and former corrections officials, did not respond to a request for comment.

State prisons are using restraint desks more and more as they rethink the use of solitary confinement, said David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) National Prison Project.

The Justice Department called for solitary confinement to be used “rarely” in a January 2016 report following a request by former President Obama to review the practice.

Fathi said the restraint desks could prove to be a decent way to let prisoners who would otherwise be in solitary participate in prison programs. But he said the devil is in the details.

“We need to know much more about how, when and on whom these restraints are going to be used,” he said.

“If this means prisoners who would otherwise be locked in their cell for 23, 24 hours a day get to come out and get meaningful interaction with other humans, that’s a positive, but there’s always a concern in a prison setting that restraints will be overly or improperly used or used on people who don’t need to be restrained.”

In its notice, the Bureau of Prisons said the rule change “will clarify that the use of restraints in this manner to facilitate programming is not considered a use of force,” and that it should be the least restrictive necessary in order to prevent injuries to prisoners or staff, and to reduce property damage.

Fathi said it was “worrisome” to change rules so that the restraints are not considered a use of force.

In prisons, he said any time staff uses force there’s extensive documentation required to provide accountability and transparency in how it’s being used. If the use of restraints is not considered force, Fathi argues, that could lead to little to no documentation or oversight.

Venters fought hard against the use of restraint desks in the New York City jails as the system’s former chief medical officer. Sitting in a fixed position for a prolonged period of time, he said, can cause blood clots that can then travel to the lungs and be fatal.

Aside from the potential physical health effects, Venters said, the desks could diminish any progress that’s hoped to be achieved through mental health services.

“Whatever the type of treatment that’s being delivered, the first prerequisite is to engage with the patient, and patients cannot engage in a meaningful way when they are chained up like an animal,” he said.

When contacted by The Hill for response to the concerns of human rights advocates, the Bureau of Prisons said, “Further discussion or comments beyond our initial response on the summary language at this stage of the process would be premature as the rule had not even been formally proposed.”