Man’s death after time in restraint chair leads to state investigation, scrutiny
By Matt Flener
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MONROE COUNTY, Tenn. (KMBC) — Elijah Lester Isbill sat disoriented behind the wheel of his vehicle as deputies showed up to a parking lot of a Madisonville financial office in February.
Isbill could not answer the correct year. He did not know the president, either.
He remained agitated for about an hour. So, deputies took him to jail for disorderly conduct.
What happened after he arrived at the jail has now become the central focus of an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation into how jail workers acted in Isbill’s last hours.
Nine Hours in a Restraint Chair Isbill’s case also adds another case to a two-year KMBC 9 News investigation into the use and misuse of restraint chairs across the country.
Those restraint systems are designed to protect inmates and correctional staff during severe mental health or behavioral problems.
But KMBC 9’s multi-year investigation uncovered a pattern of jail guards beating, pepper spraying or using a Taser on fully-restrained inmates between 2014 and 2024.
It also showed deputies often left inmates strapped down in chairs for multiple hours or even days without food, water or bathroom access.
Isbill spent nine hours in a restraint chair, according to the local district attorney.
The DA has now referred a review of Isbill’s case to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to see if a crime occurred.
Family demands accountability Isbill’s family believes deputies and paramedics should have given him better medical care instead of taking him to jail.
“I see someone that needed to be taken to the hospital,” said Isbill’s daughter Windy Duncan.
Duncan wants justice for her dad.
Video shows Isbill stumble and fall after he is put in his cell at the Monroe County Justice Center.
It also shows deputies put Isbill in a restraint chair with a spit hood on his head. Jail staff left him in a restraint chair for nine hours until he stopped moving.
“He didn’t need to be in that chair,” Duncan said. “He needed medical attention. He needed some human compassion.”
Attorney Tyler Weiss is preparing a lawsuit on behalf of Duncan.
“You can see on the video there, where his hands were purple, his feet were purple,” Weiss said.
Video also appears to show a nurse laughing multiple times while in the cell as deputies worked with Isbill.
Another jail employee makes an obscene gesture toward the camera.
Isbill is then left for hours with very little human interaction after that.
“It appears that there’s some lack of communication or some breakdown in communication from, throughout the chain of command,” Weiss said.
An autopsy confirmed he died of natural causes.
The sheriff fired a corrections corporal.
He suspended two other sergeants and a deputy without pay.
Two other deputies resigned.
Isbill’s family believes he never needed to be restrained and should still be here today.
“Maybe my dad’s death won’t be in vain if it can stop this from happening to someone else,” Duncan said.
A nationwide pattern of full-body restraint misuse leads to changes A nationwide KMBC 9 News investigation found at least 102 people in 29 states have died or reported injuries after law enforcement put them in a restraint chair or full-body restraints.
Immediately following the premiere of KMBC 9’s April 2025 documentary Chronicle: Restrained, more than 50 sheriffs and jail administrators in Missouri and Kansas changed policies and/or required new training on full-body restraint systems. The National Institute for Jail Operations, one of the top accrediting agencies for jails in the United States, also recommended portions of the documentary for its nationwide training platforms.
One jail administrator even tested his staff about the risks of full-body restraints after requiring them to watch KMBC 9’s Chronicle: Restrained.
KMBC 9 spent more than two years digging through court records, surveillance videos and public documents to produce the investigative documentary and a series of nine follow-up stories.
KMBC 9’s investigation found jailers often leave inmates strapped down in chairs for multiple hours or even days without food, water, or bathroom access.
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