County Settles Case of Man Restrained in Chair for Three Days
A mentally ill man's ordeal ends in a legal settlement, not a trial
By Verna Slate, Williamson County Bureau
MARION, Ill. — There is no good way to explain a man strapped into a chair for three days. Williamson County didn't try to explain it in court. Instead, according to Capitol News Illinois, the county has settled a case brought by a mentally ill man who was restrained that way.
The details that made it into the public record are stark enough on their own: three days, a chair, a man in crisis, and a settlement to close the case.
Settlements often come with no admission of wrongdoing, and the reporting available doesn't indicate otherwise here. What's left is the plain fact of it: a man was held in a chair for three days, and the county resolved the lawsuit with a settlement.
Whoever sits on the county board next should be asked, plainly, what changed inside the jail since then — and whether it's enough.
Reporting credit: Capitol News Illinois.
— Compiled from reporting by Capitol News Illinois.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."