Illinois county jails restrained more than 5,500 people in metal or plastic chairs between 2019 and 2023, and roughly half of those incidents were never reported to the state as required. Some detainees were strapped in for hours. In at least one Madison County case, a man was left restrained for five days, with brief mandated breaks to stretch or use the restroom.
The findings come from a nine-month investigation by the Illinois Answers Project, as reported by ABC7 Chicago. Of the more than 5,500 known restraint-chair incidents documented statewide during that five-year window, ABC7 reports that approximately half were not reported to the state as mandated. FOX 32 Chicago covered the investigation's findings, noting that Illinois jails underreported restraint chair use even as the practice continued.
Statewide, jails used the chairs more than 1,000 times per year on average, according to the investigation, as detailed by Capitol News Illinois. People were restrained for two hours or less in at least 1,800 documented cases and for longer than two hours in at least 1,300 more, per the Champaign County News-Gazette's review of the same dataset. Capitol News Illinois also reported that the true statewide total is likely an undercount, given how many incidents went unreported.
Cook County Led the State in Restraint-Chair Use
No jail in Illinois used restraint chairs more often than Cook County, which recorded 874 incidents from 2019 to 2023 — more than any other facility in the state, according to Southside Weekly's analysis of jail records. The outlet noted that while Cook County's raw total was the highest statewide, its rate was actually lower than some other facilities once adjusted for the approximate number of people booked annually.
Cook County officials said jail staff restrained people for a number of reasons, including self-harm and threats to harm others, the same investigation reported to ABC7. The jail also told ABC7 that it has since fixed its reporting problem and is now submitting incident reports to the state as mandated.
Madison County Cases Stretched for Days
Madison County Jail reported at least 96 restraint-chair incidents over the same five-year period, according to a review by Illinois Public Media. At least 28 of those incidents lasted more than 10 hours, including eight that stretched beyond 20 hours, the newsroom found. One man was restrained for five days, while another individual was left in the chair for nearly 37 hours, per the same reporting.
Samantha Slecka was restrained at the Madison County Jail for 36 hours in the summer of 2022, and again for nearly 12 hours during that same stretch, Illinois Public Media reported. Many of the people subjected to prolonged restraint were mentally ill or in withdrawal, according to the newsroom's account.
Champaign County Records Showed Missed Safety Checks
In Champaign County, jail records showed at least 74 restraint-chair incidents from 2019 through 2023, Capitol News Illinois reported. The records also contained documentation gaps, including undocumented release times, according to the same investigation.
Champaign County has since updated its record-keeping practices and started submitting required reports to a state oversight unit for the first time, the News-Gazette reported. Records reviewed as part of the broader investigation also showed that restraint chairs continued to be used daily in some Illinois county jails, per ABC7's reporting.
Some Counties Have Scaled Back or Banned the Chairs
Some counties have stopped using restraint chairs altogether. A more recent Illinois Answers Project report also discussed the issue, though the outlet did not provide a verified statewide current-use total.
Illinois isn't the only state grappling with the issue. In Pennsylvania, Allegheny County Jail reported 314 restraint-chair incidents in 2020 alone — a quarter of all reported uses statewide and nearly four times the per-capita rate of other Pennsylvania jails, according to PublicSource. By contrast, multiple Philadelphia jails reported no restraint-chair use at all in 2019 or 2020, the outlet found. Allegheny County later enacted what PublicSource described as the nation's first voter-approved ban on restraint chairs in a county jail.
