5.2.3. Restraint chairs, shackle-boards and shackle-beds (Above left) image of an Inquest Chair” taken from marketing material distributed by Chinese company, China Xingxing Import Export Corp., at Eurosatory 2016 in June 2016; (above right) image of “Emergency Restraint Chair” manufactured by U.S. company, Safety Restraint Chair, Inc. and promoted on their website. A restraint chair usually consists of a metal framed or other solidly constructed chair into which individuals are restrained by means of a multiplicity of straps or restraints at points including the wrist, elbow, shoulder, chest, waist, thigh or ankle. Similarly, a shackle board (or bed) consists of a board (or bed) on which an individual is restrained by means of a multiplicity of restraints. Whilst the shackle bed is normally fixed, a shackle board is designed to enable the restrained individual to be carried, stretcher like. These restraint devices pose a heightened risk of injury to the detainee, if the subject is left restrained and/or unattended for prolonged periods or whilst under influence of drugs or alcohol. Such restraint, particularly for long periods, could amount to ill-treatment; if additional force is used on the restrained person, e.g. employing pepper spray or electricshock devices, this could amount to torture. In 2000, the UN Committee against Torture recommended to the US that they should, “Abolish …restraint chairs as methods of restraining those in custody. Their use almost invariably leads to breaches of article 16 of the Convention [the prohibition against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment].”219 5.2.3.1. Use of restraint chairs, boards and beds in CoE member States Within the CoE region, the CPT has previously highlighted its concerns regarding the use of restraint chairs and recommended their withdrawal. For example in a report following a 2005 visit to Latvia the CPT delegation highlighted its discovery of a “special restraint chair” at Ogre Short Term Isolator, stating that such a device had “no place in a police service”, recommending that “all such restraint chairs be withdrawn from use immediately.”220 219 UN, Conclusions and Recommendations of the Committee against Torture: United States of America. 15/05/2000. CAT/C/24/6. (Concluding Observations/Comments), 24th Session, 1-9 May 2000. 220 CPT, Report to the Latvian Government on the visit to Latvia carried out by the CPT from 25 September to 4 October 2002, 10 May 2005, paragraph 23. 46