The Appeal: “…As required by state law, counties report data on use-of-force incidents, including use of restraints, each month to the state Department of Corrections, but the data is not validated by outside sources.

According to The Appeal’s analysis, from 2018 through 2024, York County used restraint chairs a total of 1,295 times—more than any other county in the state….

While many jails do not use restraint chairs, Allegheny County voters made history in 2021 when they passed a referendum that ushered in several reforms, including bans on restraint chairs and solitary confinement. Prior to the ban, from 2018 to 2020, Allegheny County used restraint chairs more times than any other county, topping out at about 340 times in 2019, according to The Appeal’s analysis. York County has had the top spot since 2021.

‘It was important to get the restraint chair in the referendum because we’ve seen firsthand what our clients have gone through,’ Tanisha Long, the Allegheny County community organizer for the Abolitionist Law Center, told The Appeal. ‘We have stories of people who have defecated on themselves, thrown up on themselves, been denied access to toilets, food, water.'”

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