pALEPHx wrote:

That's just depressing. If a person truly requires restraints, then you don't leave their arms and legs free. It's not pretty, but the alternative is drugging them into a stupor (which is not to say that both aren't done at once).

A garment like that seems designed more for preventing harm from others, hence the weird 'officer not defendant' slogan. The implication is, "Now it's okay to beat and kick the crap out of an emotionally disturbed person." For the strange shot where the guy seems to be lying on a mat outdoors, "Now resistant to fire and the urine of drunk fratboys!"

I think you're interpreting the slogan incorrectly.  It is not necessarily SOP to keep everyone who is suicidal in restraints constantly.  These garments are to make sure that you can't be accused of leaving a mentally ill person alone with something that could be used for suicide.  Hell, they even have special fire sprinklers that have no extruding parts to make sure people can't hang themselves from them.

tojo2000 wrote:

I think you're interpreting the slogan incorrectly. It is not necessarily SOP to keep everyone who is suicidal in restraints constantly. These garments are to make sure that you can't be accused of leaving a mentally ill person alone with something that could be used for suicide. Hell, they even have special fire sprinklers that have no extruding parts to make sure people can't hang themselves from them.

Well, yes and no, on most of that.

No, I'm interpreting the purpose of the outfit, and the slogan, as close to their actual intent as possible. Yeah, maybe they didn't mean it that way, but it doesn't change how the bruise-proof bedsheet will actually be used.

Yes, 'SOP' for possible suicides and altered VOs (in most jurisdictions, as neither of us can comment on ALL of them) certainly doesn't mean perpetual restraint. And yes, you're right, in that many correctional facilities and local jails have modified their "incarceration environments" to prevent a number of possible attempts at self-harm.

Bottom line: This garment is NOT capable of preventing self-harm. The arms are free and the head/neck is wide open. Someone truly determined to hurt/kill himself isn't impeded by it. It appears only to serve the purpose of preventing [visible, persistent] damage to an inmate by other people. That's why I figured their matchless slogan to mean what it does. You can beat the living crap out of someone wearing that, and the evidence will be diminished (hence the advertising), but it cannot really stop the wearer from anything (like hanging, as you mentioned).

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

No, it's not. Especially not now/this evening. You're a bit stuck on your perspective of what it does. I appreciate all the things you've mentioned. My disagreement is with the item, not you, I suppose. I read the description, of course, but it doesn't adequately define the weaknesses of the product. Since the manufacturer's site was linked, I wouldn't expect that it should.

This article of clothing leaves the arms free and the head/neck vulnerable. How you could interpret it otherwise defies their own literature. A person wearing such a thing can easily harm him- or herself. It may not be solely intended to dull the prosecutable blows of a law enforcement agent, but it does accomplish that end rather neatly. If I were to hit you through a Kevlar vest (Velcro or not), then you'd still be incapacitated, but you wouldn't bruise or be permanently harmed in the same fashion. It seems meant to conceal.