Restraint Ban For Prisoners Moves Ahead In Colorado

DENVER (AP) -- A restraint method linked to the deaths of four people in state custody over the last decade is closer to being banned in Colorado.

The state Senate gave preliminary approval Friday to a ban on "prone restraint," in which a person is laid face-down and held or tied. The method is sometimes used in prisons or mental health hospitals to subdue unruly people.

An agency that oversees mental health hospitals banned "prone restraint" this year after the method was blamed for the 2010 death of a patient at Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo. Troy Geske suffocated after he was laid on his face and had his hands and feet tied behind his back.

The ban would apply to all state facilities, including schools and prisons.

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