Douglas Quan (Postmedia News) – When it comes to dealing with combative, unruly or severely intoxicated inmates, police say they sometimes have no choice but to restrain an individual — but how far is too far?
A civil liberties group this week criticized the RCMP for tying a B.C. man to a chair for more than three hours, during which time he urinated on himself.
Interviews and records reveal that police agencies across the country have employed a hodgepodge of other techniques: chaining someone to a wall, putting a mask over their face, putting them in a “hog tie” position on the ground — and, in at least one case, duct-taping their mouth.
Critics say they want to see clearer guidelines about what tactics are appropriate and when. They also suggest that, in cases where someone has to be severely restrained for more than a few minutes, it should be done under the watch of a doctor.
“It should be medically supervised because of the danger of asphyxiation, aspirating vomit and the extreme discomfort,” said Peter Rosenthal, a Toronto lawyer who has been involved in several inquests into in-custody deaths.
In January, RCMP officers arrested Lloyd Gilbert of Williams Lake, B.C., for causing a disturbance. While in jail, Gilbert — who was “highly intoxicated,” according to a police report — repeatedly climbed onto a sink and tried to take the screws off the vent in the roof.
Officers subsequently put Gilbert in a restraint chair. A video of the incident shows his hands and feet bound and two straps across his chest.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association says it would have been better if police just placed Gilbert in a cell with nothing to climb on.
“Tying drunk people who don’t follow instructions to chairs for hours . . . is not the only response we expect to be available,” Robert Holmes, the association’s president, said in a statement.
During a period of three hours and twenty minutes, police only checked on Gilbert twice, the association said.
Sgt. Rob Vermeulen, a spokesman for the RCMP, said in a statement that the restraint chair is an approved device and was needed in this case to prevent Gilbert from harming himself and others and to prevent damage to the cell.
He added that Gilbert was monitored closely via surveillance camera.
“If we were to let this type of behaviour continue, and the prisoner was injured, the question would be why we didn’t do anything to protect them from themselves,” he said.
On at least three occasions in the past two years, the RCMP Public Complaints Commission has concluded that police used excessive force by unnecessarily restraining an individual in a chair or using a chair restraint for longer than was necessary, records show. One inmate was held for five hours.
In one of those cases, police also placed a mask over the inmate’s head to prevent him from spitting. In another case, police used duct-tape to prevent the inmate from spitting. The commission found both the use of the “spit mask” and the duct tape in those cases unreasonable and excessive.
Officials at other Canadian police agencies said Wednesday that the use of handcuffs and ankle restraints or restraining an individual to a wall will typically do the job of controlling unruly inmates.
But there are some differences in how they handle the most extreme cases.
Calgary police said they will use chair restraints. But inmates who are restrained in a chair are physically checked every 10 minutes and they are also monitored on video surveillance, officials said.
Edmonton police said they might place a helmet on unruly inmates. In the most severe cases, inmates will be placed on the ground and hog-tied — another method of rendering them immobile.
Ottawa police said they, too, use the hog-tie technique in the most extreme cases. But to prevent asphyxia or strain on the chest, the inmates will be placed on their sides. Also, officers will guard them for the entire duration that they are restrained.
Sometimes it’s not the method of restraint that has brought police under scrutiny but their lack of action.
In April, RCMP officials in the Yukon admitted that they had “failed” to provide proper care to Raymond Silverfox, who died after spending 13 hours in custody. According to an inquest into his death, Silverfox had vomited 26 times in his cell.
But instead of providing him medical attention, the inquest heard, police mocked him and laughed at him.
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