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The “Devil’s Chair”
William Norman Grigg lewrockwell.com Those taken into custody by police in the United States of America confront a substantial risk of being tortured by their captors. Police who commit such crimes face a negligible risk of significant punishment. A newly released video shows detention deputies at Tennessee’s Rutherford County Jail pepper-spraying a captive who was locked into a device often called the “Devil’s Chair.” The victim had been detained on a charge of “resisting” – no details were provided as to what he was resisting, or why it was supposedly a crime to do so. While on-camera, the victim put up no visible struggle. An officer identified as Deputy James Vandermeer can be seen inserting pepper spray into the gap in the “spit shield,” an appliance that covers the victim’s face. After the shield was removed ten minutes later, the inmate was left convulsing and crying for help for an hour and fifteen minutes. He never received medical attention. Vandermeer – who had previously been fired for a DUI arrest – lied in his official report by describing the victim as “combative,” an assertion contradicted by the video evidence. The victim in Rutherford County survived his ordeal in the Devil’s Chair. Cleveland resident Nick Christie, an emotionally disturbed 62-year-old man who was detained for several days by Lee County, Florida deputies in March 2009, was not so fortunate. During his imprisonment, which occurred after his frantic wife had contacted authorities seeking help, Christie was repeatedly shackled to a restraint chair, hooded, and attacked with military-grade pepper spray. The chemical assault was so intense that it left other inmates gagging on the fumes. Christie, who suffered from respiratory and heart disease, pleaded with deputies to remove the spit mask because he couldn’t breathe. One inmate described how Nick turned “purple and almost blue” as he suffocated. Medical personnel who attempted to save Christie’s life were overwhelmed by the pepper spray residue, which was potent enough to eat through their medical gloves. The victim died of heart failure two days after his arrest. The death was ruled a homicide – but the State Attorney’s office insisted that there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of the deputies who tortured Nick Christie to death. Restraint chairs come in various styles, colors, and brand names, but the design and function are consistent: The device binds an inmate in such a way that he or she cannot move the arms, legs, or torso. Supposedly created for the sole purpose of restraining violent and dangerous inmates to prevent them from injuring themselves or others, restraint chairs are frequently used to punish captives whose behavior wasn’t dangerous, but merely annoying to their captors. This has led to a growing number of incidents in which prisoners have been abused, maimed, crippled, and killed. Writing April 2000 issue of The Progressive Ann-Marie Cusac described how restraint chairs are routinely used to punish non-violent behavior; for instance, protesters arrested on disorderly conduct charges have been confined in the chair for passive resistance to orders from guards, or for demanding to speak to lawyers. They are quite common in juvenile detention facilities: Dan Corcoran, president of a Beaverton, Oregon firm that manufactures the chairs, reported under oath that his biggest clients included juvenile detention systems in Georgia and Florida. to read more: lewrockwell.com
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