Federal grand jury probes Gwinnett Sheriff's Department

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department's use of restraint chairs in the jail has attracted the attention of a federal grand jury.

The FOX 5 I-Team has learned a subpoena was delivered in June asking the department to provide three years' worth of videos and records as part of a criminal investigation into the use of the chairs.

In 2013, the FOX 5 I-Team talked to former inmates who argued they had done nothing to justify being put in a restraint chair. Videos we obtained showed members of the jail's Rapid Response Team rushing into a holding cell to confront a prisoner, even though they were quietly sitting or standing. The R.R.T. would throw the inmate into a restraint chair, turn him to face a wall, and leave him in place for as long as four hours. The chair restricts the inmate from scratching his nose, turning around, or even going to the bathroom.

Department policy only allows Gwinnett deputies to use the chair to stop a prisoner from hurting himself or damaging property. It cannot be used as punishment. Like most jails, Gwinnett County must deal with inmates ranging from the dangerous... to the mentally ill. We watched plenty of videos of the chair being used in circumstances when an inmate appeared obviously out of control.

But other inmates claim they were punished for speaking too loud or pounding on a door to get someone's attention because they had been skipped over for supper.

Two years ago, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Rapid Response Team's use of force was "objectively unreasonable," and that Gwinnett County deputies may have violated the civil rights of four prisoners. That was a pending civil case filed shortly after our investigation aired. A criminal case brings a different level of scrutiny.

Former Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Dr. Allen Ault is a consultant to the civil case who has viewed dozens of restraint chair recordings.

"I'm very happy that it's being investigated by the Grand Jury," he told us. "I think it's about time."

The sheriff's department had no comment on the federal criminal investigation. But in 2013, sheriff Butch Conway told us the videos did not capture the bad behavior that prompted the original call for the chair. He ordered his Rapid Response Team from then on to start their cameras earlier.

His staff insisted the chairs were constitutional and followed policy.

"Do you use these restraint chairs to punish these people?" I asked then Lt. Colonel Carl Sims in 2013.

"Absolutely not," he insisted. "Unequivocally, absolutely not."

A dozen former prisoners are now suing the sheriff's department over the restraint chair.

What's curious about the federal subpoena is the time period that interests the grand jury. The panel asked for "any and all paperwork and recorded media associated with Rapid Response Team use of force incidents involving inmates and/or detainees at the GC jail between January 1, 2016 and the present date. Additionally, please provide a roster of all members of the RRT and records of any internal investigations conducted during 2016, 2017 and/or 2018 which involved any member of the RRT, whether or not the investigation involved the officer's work on the team."

In 2015, court files show sheriff Conway was warned by a now former commander of the Rapid Response Team that the restraint chairs could be abused.

"It's miserable," stressed Dr. Ault. "And it was used as a form of torture as far as I'm concerned."