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Neighbors’ dispute leads to arrest in Wilkes-Barre Township

An inmate restraint chair was used 29 times at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in 2019, state statistics show.
				That&rsquo;s a decrease from 64 chair uses in 2018 &mdash; the year that deceased county inmate Shaheen Mackey was placed in one before becoming unresponsive, as seen in a video publicly released by his family last week.
				State law requires county prisons to report the number of times force and restraints are used beyond the routine moving, escorting and transport of inmates.
				Restraint chairs use straps to harness an inmate. While unable to comment on the Mackey case due to pending litigation, county prison officials have said the chairs are treated as a last-resort option when inmates are exhibiting behavior that threatens the safety of themselves and others.
				The decline in chair uses likely stems from an increased effort to deescalate situations and avoid using the chair, if possible, the administration said.
				This falls in line with an ongoing nationwide focus against restraint chairs.
				Earlier this year, the nonprofit Marshall Project news organization <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/02/07/they-went-to-jail-then-they-say-they-were-strapped-to-a-chair-for-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> that restraint chairs were linked to 20 jail deaths in the last six years.
				&ldquo;Additionally, at least nine other people have sued jails around the country since 2013, citing restraint chairs as part of a wider claim of abuse; in some cases, they describe being beaten, tasered or pepper-sprayed while strapped in,&rdquo; its report said.
				In Mackey&rsquo;s case, his estate alleges in litigation that he was strapped to a restraint chair and wheeled out of his cell block, with his hands cuffed behind his back.
				It asserts the correctional officers then repeatedly attempted to &ldquo;force Mr. Mackey&rsquo;s back down&rdquo; to restrain him in a prone position with leather straps.
				&ldquo;There was no conceivable reason to change Mr. Mackey&rsquo;s position or force his convulsing body into restraints,&rdquo; argues the suit against the county, which is awaiting final court settlement approval.
				A county news release had said restraint was necessary because Mackey was &ldquo;behaving aggressively,&rdquo; and a district attorney&rsquo;s office investigation pointed to witnesses describing the inmate exhibiting tremendous strength.
				Mackey&rsquo;s estate said he was suffering from a seizure and had no drugs in his system. The 41-year-old Berwick man had been lodged at the prison in Wilkes-Barre about five hours on a warrant related to a protection-from-abuse petition and died at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital two days after he was transported there from the county prison.
				Restraint chairs were used between 41 and 46 times annually at the county prison from 2012 through 2014, the state statistics show.
				The number of uses increased to 61 in 2015 and 75 in 2016 but inexplicably dropped to three uses in 2017.
				The state corrections department stresses statistics are provided by each county and posted without state validation of their accuracy.
				In 2016, the recent year with the heaviest use of restraint chairs, then-interim county correctional services division head James Larson provided details about a situation in which the administration deemed they were necessary.
				Two inmates were in a section of the prison reserved for prisoners caught committing an assault or other serious misbehavior behind bars, and both had refused to comply with three successive orders to remove prohibited window coverings so officers could see inside, he said.
				The inmates were placed in the chairs so both the inmates and their cells could be checked, he said at the time
				Stun device
				The Mackey litigation also questions the prison&rsquo;s deployment of a Taser on him while he was restrained.
				The prison has an electronic immobilization device, or EID, that makes a zapping sound as it is held and primed as a deterrent but is silent at the moment it touches the skin, according to a prison employee.
				The EID falls under the category of a stun device, and its frequency of use also must be reported to the state.
				The device was used once in 2019 and seven times in 2018, the state report shows. Its usage in other recent years: 2017, zero; 2016, eight; and 2015, two.

Statistics detail restraint chair use in Luzerne County prison