All I Needed Was Someone to Talk to

The incident unfolded like this: I told an officer that I was feeling really anxious and very depressed and wanted to talk to someone. But I guess with my past suicide attempt, they don’t want to take any chances. So they put me in this black restraint chair in the detention center’s gym with the lights off and no one around. While they were putting me in the chair, and before, I didn’t resist at all. All I wanted was to talk to someone. While being put in the chair I told the Sgt in charge I was having a hard time to breathe, he said that if I could ask a question, it wasn’t too tight. So I was left alone for about three hours until they fed me. I asked again about when I was being let out of the chair, they told me that they didn’t know, so when they left I started to freak out cause I saw no end to my restrained isolation and flipped the chair. I was upside down for a couple of minutes until someone noticed. They came in and straightened me out and left for another couple of hours—I know that it was a while cause it was a different shift coming on. And somewhere in between all of that the warden came to talk to me. I asked him why I was being treated this way—he said that it was for my own good, so I don’t hurt myself. I wasn’t aggressive to anyone or causing trouble, all I needed was someone to talk to. After they got me out of the chair I was put in a restraint bed for a couple of days. I cant remember how long. I didn’t do anything. Again I didn’t resist. While in the chair and the bed I was forced to urinate on myself and sit and lay in it for some time. …I learned one thing—don’t say anything no matter what or I’ll be restrained again …
-Prisoner at Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup, MD