J, Ohio State Penitentiary
"... they partitioned the room in half with plexiglass. They have a stool on one side of the partition like the ones we sit on in the inmate visit side of the visiting room booths. There is a chain that is bolted to the floor and they sit you down on the stool, handcuffed behind your back, and take another pair of handcuffs and cuff one lock to the inmate's handcuffs and the other to the chain. It is very painful on the shoulders and arms as well as back. You cannot move or you could dislocate or break your wrist and shoulders. They use this chair for [investigative] hearings and consultations with psychologist or religious counselors and there is a two way speaker above the door to the partition [so] that the officers in the control center can listen to your conversations.
"This is the room [where] I [saw] the committee to be released from OSP [Ohio State Penitentiary] I was chained to this stool and it was very painful for me. My arms fell asleep in five minutes."
lA, fiancee of prisoner at Wallens Ridge State Prison, Big Stone Gap, Virginia"In the letter I got from John today he writes, 'Someone collapsed today. They put leg chains and hand cuffs on him (behind his back) then put him m a wheelchair and took him to medical.' John said the man wasn't much taller than me (I'm 5~9~) and probably didn't [weigh] 140 pounds but they surrounded him with five guards who aimed their stun guns on him - and the whole nine yards. ... (I wonder if he got a write up for collapsing?)
"So many things John writes about that place [are] just absurd."
FOUR POINT RESTRAINT (To four point is to strap a prisoner down by ankles and wrists either to a bed or to a bare table).
"The sanitary installations shall be adequate to enable every prisoner to comply with the needs of nature when necessary and in a clean and decent manner. Adequate bathing and shower installations shall be provided so that every prisoner may be enabled and required to have a bath or shower ... at least once a week. ... Prisoners shall be required to keep their persons clean, and to this end, they shall be provided with water and with such toilet facilities as are necessary for health and cleanliness. - MINRULE, Part 1: items 12, 13 and 15.
MC, USP Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, 1/21/98"[ln] April, 1997,1 was 4-pointed with steel handcuffs and steel leg irons for 70 hours (and was chained up with those and a belly chain for an additional 19 hours) ... as summary punishment ... Numerous governmental regulations [require] an independent lieutenant review every two hours. The warden stated at the outset that I was 'down for the weekend' thus preventing like 30-35 independent lieutenant reviews."
AQ, USP Lexington, Kentucky, 2/18/98"I have been four pointed twice and left in progressive restraints (shackles, belly chain, hand cuffs) for over five days."
YM, Northern Prison, Somers, Connecticut"On October 2, I was chained to a bed for more than 27 hours for tipping over a food cart and during the preceding month many men were chained to their beds in the segregation unit at Somers [Northern] Prison. ... [ln my case,] a Black lieutenant came and spoke to me, found no reason to chain me down. The white officer wanted me chained down, so ... a white captain overruled the Black lieutenant some three or four hours later and I was chained down to [the] metal bed for 27 hours."
"In their further attempts to break you, like they used to break slaves, they chained me butt naked to a metal bed, cold air blowing on me, no heat in the cell for more than eight hours. ... This female officer kept coming to the my door every fifteen minutes gawking at me."
FA, Northern prison, Somers, Connecticut, 7/10/99"The prison staff at Somers (Northern) use devices of torture, harassment and brutality. These are carried out by means of four point restraints for days - and medical staff be covering up for the injuries. A prisoner is forced in[to] four point restraints for minor incidents. The following prisoners are [undergoing] torture, harassment [and] brutality: ..." There follows a list of 20 prisoners and their numbers. Attached to the letter is the copy of a Connecticut DOC report on the four pointing of the writer, naming the prisoner, his number, location and the date. Following are entries:
"Inmate's version: I informed [the] lieutenant I had to take a shit. He refused to let me use the bathroom. I shitted on myself.
"[First] witness' [statement]: [Prisoner] complained to the lieutenant that he had to use the bathroom. Lieutenant refused. [Prisoner] shit himself.
"[Second] witness' [statement]: I don't know what happened around the corner. But while [prisoner] was tied down, he asked lieutenant to use the bathroom. [The] lieutenant would not let him. He had to wait for [the captain]. "[Third] witness' [statement]: I heard him tell lieutenant that he had to use the bathroom. [The] lieutenant told him he had to wait for [the] captain [Prisoner] used the bathroom on himself and got feces all over himself."