Colo. Judge Rules: Inmate Shackling Not Reasonable

A Colorado Judge ruled that constraining an inmate to a chair for five-and-a-half days to obtain evidence that he ingested bags of narcotics is unreasonable and the evidence collected cannot be held against him in court.

Brian Willert, 29, was shackled to a chair and allowed only small breaks and little sleep for almost six days until he passed the illegal methamphetamine-filled balloons he had swallowed.

He was frequently searched and monitored by prison officials, who didn't allow him to lie down or get checked out by healthcare personnel, District Judge Charles M. Barton said.

“Forcing a shacked inmate to sit in a chair for over five days posed, in the court's opinion, an unreasonable risk to the life and health of the inmate,” Barton wrote in a statement.

The event occurred last summer when a woman revealed to prison officials that she had transferred four balloons with illegal drugs in them into Willert's mouth during a kiss they shared while she visited him in prison.

Willert was released prior to the judge's ruling, but was arrested again for violating bail and attempting to escape after he failed to show up for the hearing, where the ruling was ordered.

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