Many rural law-enforcement officers still use dangerous restraint techniques condemned by U.S. Justice Department

Officers in many rural police and and sheriff's departments still use dangerous restraint techniques that the U.S. Department of Justice condemned in 1995. "The agency, along with the International [Association of] Chiefs of Police, warned law-enforcement officials that keeping people restrained face down in what is known as the prone position increased the risk of death from asphyxia," reports Jerry Mitchell of the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. "The Justice Department also told officers never to use a hogtie — a form of prone restraint in which officers also attach wrists to ankles behind the person’s back. Many police departments have banned the practice because of its link to positional asphyxia."

Mitchell cites the deaths of a rural Mississippi mother and son in separate incidents years apart as an example of the continuing use of the techniques—and their deadly consequences. "A joint investigation by NBC News and The Marshall Project identified at least 23 deaths involving hogtying or similar restraints across the country since 2010. At least 13 of those who died had mental illnesses or were in mental crisis," Mitchell reports.

It's also worth noting that officials involved in such cases generally blame the deaths on other factors such as intoxication or even heat stroke, but investigative journalists have been able to shine a light on such cases with footage obtained through state open-records or federal Freedom of Information Act requests.