County To Buy Restraint Chairs For Jail Officials React To Lawsuit Over Inmate’s Death Caused By Restraint Asphyxiation

Facing a lawsuit over the death of an inmate, Spokane County commissioners agreed Tuesday to an investment that could prevent future claims.

They decided to spend $6,000 on four “violent prisoner chairs” equipped with straps to hold down struggling inmates.

An autopsy in 1995 concluded that inmate Mario Lozada died of restraint asphyxiation less than 10 minutes after jailers had strapped his arms to his chest, strapped his legs together and left him stomach-down in a jail cell.

After the death, jail officials defended their restraint techniques and said they wouldn’t change procedures. They contend Lozada, who had fought arresting officers, died of a methamphetamine overdose. The same forensic pathologist who determined Lozada’s cause of death found large amounts of the drug in his system.

Lozada’s widow is suing Spokane city and county.

In a recent memo, Hugh Lackie, an attorney hired by county commissioners to review the case, suggested the county invest in the chairs.

“Although I feel that the restraint device utilized to control Mr. Lozada was appropriate at the time and under the circumstances then presented, it appears that there is a definite movement away from the prone restraint technique,” Lackie wrote.

“This is due to a recognition of the susceptibility (of) certain individuals to become vulnerable to pulmonary and respiratory problems” either because of physical problems or drug or alcohol use.

In addition to the chairs, commissioners agreed to spend $3,675 on electrical outlet covers for areas of the jail where inmates have access.

Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Hill said the jail needs tamper-proof outlets to prevent fires and other damage. Inmates sometimes jam pencil leads into positive and negative outlet terminals, then touch the two together to create an arc they can use to light cigarettes.

Smoking has been prohibited in the jail since 1995, but some inmates make cigarettes from toilet paper and tea leaves, Hill said. Others smuggle marijuana into the jail, sometimes by swallowing small balloons filled with the illegal drug.

, DataTimes