Section 91.6. Use of force and restraints

(a) Force and restraints will be used by corrections personnel only to accomplish legitimate penological and law enforcement objectives.

(1) A staff member may not use any greater force against an inmate than is necessary to protect the staff member or others from bodily harm or to protect property from damage or destruction or to prevent a criminal act or to effect compliance with rules when other methods of control are ineffective.

(2) A staff member may only use deadly force against an inmate when that force is necessary to prevent death, serious bodily harm to the staff member or others, or to prevent one or more of the following:

(i) An escape from a correctional facility other than a community corrections center or while in immediate pursuit of an inmate escaping from a correctional facility other than a community corrections center.

(ii) An escape from a work detail, transport or other approved temporary absence when deadly force is necessary to prevent the escape and the inmate has been convicted of an offense involving the threat of physical force or violence against any individual.

(3) A staff member may use force against an inmate when he reasonably believes that force is necessary to prevent the escape of an inmate or to recapture an escaped inmate.

(4) Instruments of restraint will only be used as a precaution against escape, as protection against an inmate injuring himself or others or on medical grounds at a doctor’s direction.

(b) Neither force nor restraints will be used for punishment or revenge.

(c) Use of chemical munitions will be closely controlled. Appropriate medical attention will be provided for any person involved in an incident where chemical munitions were used. Staff will follow the procedures set forth in DC-ADM 201—Use of Force—as to the availability and storage, method of use, training, medical staff role and reporting of the use of chemical munitions.

The provisions of this § 91.6 amended April 15, 2005, effective April 16, 2005, 35 Pa.B. 2279. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (286421) to (286422).

Notation

Authority

The provisions of this § 91.6 amended under section 506 of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. § 186).

Notes of Decisions

Effect of Regulations

The administrative regulations, found in 37 Pa. Code § § 91.1—91.6, do not create rights in prison inmates; rather the administrative regulations create rules for corrections officers to follow in the performance of their duties. Commonwealth ex rel. Buehl v. Price, 705 A.2d 933 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1998); appeal denied 727 A.2d 1123 (Pa. 1998).

Validity of Restraint Policy

New prison restraint policy (behind-the-back handcuffing applied to all death-sentenced inmates for all out-of-cell movements) did not violate administrative regulation even though the inmate’s complaint indicates that the new policy was imposed after contraband was found in the unit housing death-sentenced inmates and that the new policy constituted a concession to corrections officers’ union, which had long been requesting the new policy, because the implementation of the new restraint policy was imposed to accomplish legitimate penological objectives, and does not evidence a retaliatory animus designed to penalize death-sentenced inmates. Commonwealth v. Price, 705 A.2d 933 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1998).