The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "restraint chairs" ...
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Tough Love
The News-Journal reports on abuse and neglect riddling the juvenile justice system in Volusia County, Fla. A teenager hangs himself in his cell, and the tragedy triggers an investigation to find what is behind the hundreds of abuse complaints and the soaring rates of delinquency and recidivism. The reporters find a system where more youths are committed for lesser offenses; guards make $7 per hour; training to ensure detainees' health and safety is neither required nor offered; and turnover among guards is encouraged rather than curbed.
Tags: teenagers; crime; offenders; courts; violence; CAR; adolescents; restraint chairs; restraints
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Star of Justice: On the job with America's Toughest Sheriff
Harper's Magazine reports from Phoenix, Arizona, on how Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, has violated human rights in a number of cases. The story details how inmates in the county's jails are forced "to wear pink underwear... and dig graves," while put on chain gangs. The report finds that "in a city where crime and development are growing together, Arpaio had the answers that the frightened people wanted to hear." The result: "Arpaio is treated not as a politician but as a rock star." The story details how an arrested paraplegic has been put in a restraint chair for six hours and, as a result, his right arm has withered, and his anus has become ulcerated. It describes how other arrested people have been tortured and killed while in jail. The report sheds light on lawsuits that "alleged that Arpaio created and nurtured a climate that encouraged the guards to abuse inmates," and describes his political activities.
Tags: police; Amnesty International; jail; restraint chair; litigation; civil rights; lawyers; politics; fund raising; political campaigns
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The Devil's Chair
The Progressive "investigated the restraint chair, a popular restraining device used in jails and prisons" and "revealed that at least eleven people have died since 1984 after being placed in restraint chairs..." The story "revealed widespread abuse - including torture - of prisoners in the chairs." Some of the major findings included the use of chair "for punishment of nonthreatening behavior" and cases when "prisoners have been interrogated" or "required to testify while in restraint chairs." The reporter also found that "jails, state and federal prisons, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, state mental hospitals, juvenile detention centers are all equipped with the chair."
Tags: diskette; FOIA; Amnesty International; prisons; torture