Grace Hauck

2 months ago | ipmnewsroom.org | Grace Hauck |Janelle O'Dea |WVIK-Rock Island

Warning: The following article includes mentions of self-harm and suicide. This story is part of an ongoing series. EDWARDSVILLE – Samantha Slecka spent the better part of three days strapped down to a chair in Madison County Jail in the summer of 2022. It was the same jail where her fiancé had attempted suicide only months earlier. She had been arrested and detained for meth possession and a warrant for possession of a controlled substance—a charge that was later dropped.

2 months ago | news-gazette.com | Grace Hauck

CHAMPAIGN — An Illinois Answers Project investigation into the use of restraint chairs in county jails raised questions about how Champaign County documents, tracks and reports use of the devices. Now, the facility has updated its record-keeping practices and is submitting required reports to a state oversight unit for the first time.

2 months ago | freeburgtribune.com | Grace Hauck |Janelle O’Dea

by Illinois Answers Project Of all Illinois jails, Madison County has the most incidents of restraint lasting longer than 10 hours, the upper limit set by the chair manufacturer. The jail said they’re not equipped to care for so many mentally ill detainees. by  and  Warning: The following article includes mentions of self-harm and suicide. This story is part of an ongoing series. Edwardsville, Ill.

Jan 23, 2025 | illinoisanswers.org | Meredith Newman |Grace Hauck

Meredith Newman is an embedded investigative reporter with the Illinois Answers Project. Before joining the newsroom, she worked at The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware and The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and is originally from Evanston, Illinois. More by Meredith Newman

Jan 12, 2025 | heartlandjournal.com | Grace Hauck

Vernon L. Brooks Jr. was distraught. Forced into a chair in a jail cell with a black mesh hood over his head, he panicked as he felt officers tighten straps like tourniquets around his wrists and restrain his ankles and chest. When he screamed he couldn’t breathe, officers removed the hood but kept him restrained for three and a half hours, unable to move. He felt like his circulation was cut off, and he lost feeling in his hands – a numbness he said persisted months afterward.