Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2019 11:42:29 GMT -5
Messenger: Strapped to a chair in jail, Billy Ames pleaded for his life. 'They did nothing.'
Billy Ames. Photo courtesy of Joe Braun.
FARMINGTON, MO. • Lt. Dennis Smith slowly pulls back the steel door on a holding cell in the St. Francois County Jail.
Labeled R-3, this 8-foot-by-12-foot room boasts a restraint chair used to hold unruly inmates.
It’s about 15 feet from the booking desk in the front of the prison that is staffed 24 hours a day.
“It looks worse than it is,” Smith says as he opens the door.
This is where Billy Ames died.
He was strapped to a SureGuard Correctional Chair. It looks more like exercise equipment than medieval torture device, except for the pink handcuffs strapped to the arms and the legs, and the chest straps to hold a prisoner in place. The gray padding is well-used, like the hard cement floor and walls surrounding the chair.
This is where William Daniel Ames III spent his final hours, perhaps 24 or more of them, according to a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by his parents in the U.S. District Court. He was 36, brought to the jail on Nov. 8 after a traffic stop. According to the lawsuit, and court records, he was never charged with a crime.
Before arriving at the jail, both his parents and the lawsuit say, Ames swallowed a baggie containing a street drug commonly referred to as “flakka.” It contained a mixture of meth, cocaine and bath salts. He needed to be taken to a hospital, says his stepfather, Joe Braun.
“The guard on duty made no attempt to get him medical care,” says Braun, an ex-cop. “We have multiple witness statements that he was in that chair from Friday night until he died early Sunday morning.”
Ames is one of three inmates who have died at the St. Francois County Jail since October. At least two of the deaths — Ames and Michael Bennett, who died in February — are being investigated by the Missouri Highway Patrol. The third inmate to die was Nancy Redenberg. Her death on Halloween was ruled a suicide.
Three deaths in four months is “a little uncommon,” says Smith, who has run the jail in the rural county about 90 minutes south of St. Louis for 16 years. Smith, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said he couldn’t discuss the case. The attorney for the county has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
Nationally, increased attention has been placed on jail deaths as pressure builds for criminal justice reform efforts that seek to reduce jail and prison populations. This is especially true for pretrial detainees who are not facing charges for violent crimes.
There also have been three such deaths in the St. Louis County Justice Center this year. Multiple investigations are underway. Across the nation, deaths per capita in local jails have been on the rise every year between 2011 and 2014, the last year that full data are available, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Ames’ death stands out because of the way it happened, strapped to a chair in a holding cell directly in front of the booking desk.
“It blows my mind that they use that chair the way they do,” says Farmington attorney Vonne Karraker, who filed the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Ames’ father, William Ames Jr., and mother, Laurie Braun. “If they just read the instruction manual, Billy would be alive.”
The first words of those instructions? “WARNING: Use of the SureGuard Correctional Chair without first reading and thoroughly understanding the instructions could cause injury or death.”
Detainees “must be monitored regularly,” the instructions say, and provided “medical treatment.” Instructions suggest a two-hour time limit to be held in the chair. If monitored by a doctor, an inmate could be held in the chair for up to 10 hours, the instructions say.
Karraker believes Ames was in the chair for “over 24 hours,” according to the lawsuit. “During the entire time (Ames) was kept in restraints,” the suit contends, “he repeatedly cried, begged, and pleaded for medical assistance from the guards who were stationed just across the hallway from him.”
Ames had been on anti-seizure medication since he was 22, when he suffered a traumatic brain injury after being beaten with a baseball bat. He lived on disability payments. His brain injury made communication difficult. His sister and parents believe he was taken advantage of by people who got him addicted to drugs.
“He wasn’t just a druggie,” says his sister, Katie. Ames liked to hunt and fish. He loved the St. Louis Cardinals. “He had a kind heart,” his mother says.
Deputies at the jail knew Ames because he had been there before, and family members had dropped off his anti-seizure medications. This time, they turned his girlfriend away when she tried to drop off his pills. By the time Ames died, the lawsuit alleges, he had missed at least “seven doses” of his medication.
His family seeks justice.
“Billy made a bad choice,” Joe Braun says. “We all make bad choices. We shouldn’t have to pay for it with our lives. He was crying out for help, and they did nothing. They did nothing.”
ADDITIONAL CAUTIONS
Caution: Violet behavior may mask dangerous medical conditions. Detainees must be
monitored continuously and provided medical treatment if needed.
Caution: Handcuffs and leg irons must be removed as soon as possible to prevent injury.
Caution: Belts and straps may need to be loosened to insure adequate blood flow. The SureGuardTM
Correctional Chair must always be used in the upright position, leaving the chair on its side or back may cause
injury or death to the detainee. Detainees should not be left in the SureGuardTM Correctional Chair for more than
two hours. This time limit was established to allow for the detainee to calm down, and if needed it allows for the
handlers to seek medical or psychological help for the detainee. This two hour time limit may be extended, but
only under medical supervision (Doctor/Nurse). This extended time period must not exceed eight hours and
range of motion exercises must be performed regularly. Therefore we do not recommend anyone be left in the
SureGuardTM Correctional Chair for more than ten hours total.
restraintchair.com/sureguard-correctional-chair.php
www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/tony-messenger/messenger-strapped-to-a-chair-in-jail-billy-ames-pleaded/article_b8b5a57f-92fe-59d5-8e7a-2983cabdeee9.html#utm_source=stltoday.com&utm_campaign=Morning%20Dispatch%20Newsletter&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=fca1ef4a13b46079a4c5362bddd113fc6729f5f2
May he rest in peace.
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Billy Ames. Photo courtesy of Joe Braun.
FARMINGTON, MO. • Lt. Dennis Smith slowly pulls back the steel door on a holding cell in the St. Francois County Jail.
Labeled R-3, this 8-foot-by-12-foot room boasts a restraint chair used to hold unruly inmates.
It’s about 15 feet from the booking desk in the front of the prison that is staffed 24 hours a day.
“It looks worse than it is,” Smith says as he opens the door.
This is where Billy Ames died.
He was strapped to a SureGuard Correctional Chair. It looks more like exercise equipment than medieval torture device, except for the pink handcuffs strapped to the arms and the legs, and the chest straps to hold a prisoner in place. The gray padding is well-used, like the hard cement floor and walls surrounding the chair.
This is where William Daniel Ames III spent his final hours, perhaps 24 or more of them, according to a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by his parents in the U.S. District Court. He was 36, brought to the jail on Nov. 8 after a traffic stop. According to the lawsuit, and court records, he was never charged with a crime.
Before arriving at the jail, both his parents and the lawsuit say, Ames swallowed a baggie containing a street drug commonly referred to as “flakka.” It contained a mixture of meth, cocaine and bath salts. He needed to be taken to a hospital, says his stepfather, Joe Braun.
“The guard on duty made no attempt to get him medical care,” says Braun, an ex-cop. “We have multiple witness statements that he was in that chair from Friday night until he died early Sunday morning.”
Ames is one of three inmates who have died at the St. Francois County Jail since October. At least two of the deaths — Ames and Michael Bennett, who died in February — are being investigated by the Missouri Highway Patrol. The third inmate to die was Nancy Redenberg. Her death on Halloween was ruled a suicide.
Three deaths in four months is “a little uncommon,” says Smith, who has run the jail in the rural county about 90 minutes south of St. Louis for 16 years. Smith, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said he couldn’t discuss the case. The attorney for the county has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
Nationally, increased attention has been placed on jail deaths as pressure builds for criminal justice reform efforts that seek to reduce jail and prison populations. This is especially true for pretrial detainees who are not facing charges for violent crimes.
There also have been three such deaths in the St. Louis County Justice Center this year. Multiple investigations are underway. Across the nation, deaths per capita in local jails have been on the rise every year between 2011 and 2014, the last year that full data are available, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Ames’ death stands out because of the way it happened, strapped to a chair in a holding cell directly in front of the booking desk.
“It blows my mind that they use that chair the way they do,” says Farmington attorney Vonne Karraker, who filed the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Ames’ father, William Ames Jr., and mother, Laurie Braun. “If they just read the instruction manual, Billy would be alive.”
The first words of those instructions? “WARNING: Use of the SureGuard Correctional Chair without first reading and thoroughly understanding the instructions could cause injury or death.”
Detainees “must be monitored regularly,” the instructions say, and provided “medical treatment.” Instructions suggest a two-hour time limit to be held in the chair. If monitored by a doctor, an inmate could be held in the chair for up to 10 hours, the instructions say.
Karraker believes Ames was in the chair for “over 24 hours,” according to the lawsuit. “During the entire time (Ames) was kept in restraints,” the suit contends, “he repeatedly cried, begged, and pleaded for medical assistance from the guards who were stationed just across the hallway from him.”
Ames had been on anti-seizure medication since he was 22, when he suffered a traumatic brain injury after being beaten with a baseball bat. He lived on disability payments. His brain injury made communication difficult. His sister and parents believe he was taken advantage of by people who got him addicted to drugs.
“He wasn’t just a druggie,” says his sister, Katie. Ames liked to hunt and fish. He loved the St. Louis Cardinals. “He had a kind heart,” his mother says.
Deputies at the jail knew Ames because he had been there before, and family members had dropped off his anti-seizure medications. This time, they turned his girlfriend away when she tried to drop off his pills. By the time Ames died, the lawsuit alleges, he had missed at least “seven doses” of his medication.
His family seeks justice.
“Billy made a bad choice,” Joe Braun says. “We all make bad choices. We shouldn’t have to pay for it with our lives. He was crying out for help, and they did nothing. They did nothing.”
ADDITIONAL CAUTIONS
Caution: Violet behavior may mask dangerous medical conditions. Detainees must be
monitored continuously and provided medical treatment if needed.
Caution: Handcuffs and leg irons must be removed as soon as possible to prevent injury.
Caution: Belts and straps may need to be loosened to insure adequate blood flow. The SureGuardTM
Correctional Chair must always be used in the upright position, leaving the chair on its side or back may cause
injury or death to the detainee. Detainees should not be left in the SureGuardTM Correctional Chair for more than
two hours. This time limit was established to allow for the detainee to calm down, and if needed it allows for the
handlers to seek medical or psychological help for the detainee. This two hour time limit may be extended, but
only under medical supervision (Doctor/Nurse). This extended time period must not exceed eight hours and
range of motion exercises must be performed regularly. Therefore we do not recommend anyone be left in the
SureGuardTM Correctional Chair for more than ten hours total.
restraintchair.com/sureguard-correctional-chair.php
www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/tony-messenger/messenger-strapped-to-a-chair-in-jail-billy-ames-pleaded/article_b8b5a57f-92fe-59d5-8e7a-2983cabdeee9.html#utm_source=stltoday.com&utm_campaign=Morning%20Dispatch%20Newsletter&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=fca1ef4a13b46079a4c5362bddd113fc6729f5f2
May he rest in peace.
$1925.00 each
Quantity:
1
ADD TO CART