In County Jails, Guards Use Pepper Spray and Stun Guns to Subdue People in Mental Crisis

January 2, 2023

(NPR) – An investigation by WITF and NPR looked at 456 of those incidents from 25 county jails in Pennsylvania, during the last quarter of 2021. Nearly 1 in 3 “use of force” incidents involved a person who was having a mental health crisis or who had a known mental illness. In many cases, guards used aggressive — and distressing — weapons like stun guns and pepper spray to control and subdue such prisoners, despite the fact that their severe psychiatric conditions meant they may have been unable to follow orders — or even understand what was going on. (Read More)