Detainees give graphic detail about being held in restraint chairs in trial against Victor Hill

ATLANTA — For the first time, a jury heard from one of the former detainees at the Clayton County jail who embattled Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill allegedly put in a restraint chair as punishment.

Hill is on trial, accused of violating inmates’ civil rights.

That former detainee, Desmond Bailey, took the stand and told the court that the now suspended sheriff cursed at him and ordered officers to put him in the chair.

Bailey says he was arrested and sent to the Clayton County jail on a drug and gun possession arrest.

He told the court that while in the intake area, Hill approached him and asked,

“Who do you think you are? What are you doing in my jail? You think you’re a bad a--? Put his a-- in the chair,” Bailey told the court.

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Government attorneys then asked Bailey, “How did it feel to be in the chair?”

“It was horrible,” Bailey answered.

Hill is accused of violating the civil rights of a number of jail detainees. He’s accused of ordering officers to place detainees in restraint chairs as a form of punishment.

Prosecutors ended their questioning of Bailey by showing photos of what Bailey described as deep gashes to his wrists due to the tight restraints.

But the defense pushed back and presented the notion that Bailey could have sustained those injuries from the other times he was in handcuffs following the alleged incident at the Clayton County Jail.

“You have been in restraints since, correct?” the defense asked Bailey.

“Yes ma’am,” Bailey answered.

Channel 2′s Audrey Washington asked Hill’s attorney Drew Findling about the restraint chairs.

“(He) felt that he instituted something that would bring safety, peace and health to everybody in that environment,” Findling said.

Bailey told the court that he was in the restraint chair for six hours and that he still has scars on his wrists.

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