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I was put in that restraint device for at least 30 minutes, and the more I tried to move the more uncomfortable it would get," said one of the complainants, Bobbi O'Shea, who was placed in a modified restraining device after trying to shield a male guard from watching her use the toilet in her jail cell. "I remember a girl from one of the nearby cells telling me that if I was quiet they would stop, but I thought to myself 'How can I be quiet when I am in so much pain?'"
Pivot is also calling on the VPD to clarify whether online comments attributed to one if its officers are accurate. An order for 6-8 BodyCuffs was made "for clients who intend on being pains in the butt," states a posting to "Blue Line Forums," an online police forum, by a user identified as "vpd". The VPD proposed changes to the policy to include the BodyCuff shortly after the date of the posting. The full text of the posting can be found here:
http://forums.blueline.ca/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=12055&p=229532&hilit=bodycuff#p229532
Pivot is calling on the VPD to tighten up its policy on the use of restraint devices, and forbid the use of the 'BodyCuff' and 'Hobble' on prisoners in cells. It has filed a formal complaint with the Vancouver Police Board asking it to make a determination on the issue.
Full copy of complaint here.
Vancouver, March 3, 2009 - Pivot Legal Society is calling upon the Vancouver Police Department to change their policy regarding the use of "modified restraint devices" on prisoners in the Vancouver jail in light of the Willow Kinloch decision in Victoria, where a jury awarded $60,000 to a teen who was placed in a restraining device for hours on end after being uncooperative with jail guards.
