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The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
The office of the Iowa Citizens’ Aide/Ombudsman has announced that it will release a “critical report” detailing the use of restraint devices in Iowa’s county jails. Ombudsman William P. Angrick II is expected to deliver the report to state legislators Thursday morning, and he will hold a media availability to answer questions about it that afternoon.
The issue of restraint procedures in county jails is not new to the Ombudsman’s office, which has been looking into complaints since at least 2007. In June of that year, Angrick criticized Lee County officials for improperly restraining an inmate in a special ‘restraint chair’ for longer than the time limits allowed by Iowa law and the manufacturer’s specifications:
State Ombudsman Bill Angrick has issued a report saying the restraint of an inmate in chair at the Scott County Jail for five consecutive hours was contrary to law and amounted to excessive force. Angrick says a review of jail documents and video showed that Lillian Slater spent a minimum of nearly seven hours in a restraint chair during her nine-hour stay at the jail on January 26, 2006, including the five-hour stretch.
Angrick says the jail’s policy calls for no more than four hours in a restraint chair and that’s also the chair manufacturer’s guidelines and Iowa municipal code which talks about reasonable use of a chair and guidelines for checking a person when they are in a chair. Angrick says jail reports indicated that Slater was restrained for her own safety after she yelled and banged her head against a wall.Slater told the Ombudsman she was yelling for medication and a doctor, which jail reports confirmed.
The Ombudsman recommended that the Scott County Jail consult with doctors before using a restraint chair on inmates with medical conditions and allow restrained inmates to be freed to eat and use the bathroom. Furthermore, the Ombudsman recommended a department review of policies. Angrick says the jail does have a policy, which he say is good as many jails don’t have a policy.
At the time, Angrick said he was investigating three other complaints related to restraint procedures at county jails, but he did not disclose which counties.
The office of the State Ombudsman is one of the lesser-known state offices. It exists to investigate complaints made against most state departments and to help Iowans access government services.
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