I worked for Dept of Corrections here in Northern Louisiana from 1992-1997.
For most of that time, I was a transport officer. We took inmates to court on a very frequent basis. It was standard practice to remove cuffs prior to taking an inmate into the courtroom.
This was in a very rural parish (county) and there was always 2 officers that carried inmates to court. Of course, everyon in the courtroom knew, just by seeing 2 armed uniformed officers there, the guy standing there was an already sentenced to state prison time and was back for a 2nd helping.
There are some other ways for helping restrain the inmate. One is to make the inmate wear a leg brace on 1 leg under his jeans. This will prevent him from running, but just like Chester on Gunsmoke, he can still move pretty fast with the right incentive.
Sun technologies make a "stun belt". This device is placed on the inmate and has a 50K volt power pak that fits over his right kidney. It is activated by remote control and gives him an 8 second ride of his life. But you have to check his medical record and have the Dr. authorize that this device be placed on him.
One thing that never made sense to me (among many others) all inmates in the state of Louisiana have their name and doc # stenciled on both legs of their jeans and on the back of their shirt. We would have to take his cuffs off, but everyone could easily see that he was already in prison.
Thanks cajun - yours is best post on this thread - much appreciate your input.
In your professional opininion, if these standards had been followed in Atlanta, could this monster had broken free?