Cruel and Inhuman Treatment

The Use of Four-Point Restraint in the Onondaga County Public Safety Building, Syracuse, New York

In November 1992, PHR sent a medical team to the county jail in Syracuse, New York to investigate reports that the prison officials' use of four-point restraint — handcuffing inmates to their cell bunks by the hands and feet — caused physical or psychological injury. The team found that prison officials ignored the medical consequences of prolonged four-point restraint, including permanent neurological damage; neglected the basic human needs of inmates left restrained for long periods of time; and failed to adequately monitor the medical aspects of the use of metal shackles.

"The report played an instrumental role in exposing this practice and in ultimately bringing it to a halt."  - attorney for victims of shackling

May 1993
67 pages