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Straitjacket

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Straitjacket (disambiguation).

A Posey Straitjacket (small-size) manufactured by The Posey Company.

A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with long sleeves that surpass the tips of the wearer's fingers. Its most typical use is restraining people who may cause harm to themselves or others. Once the wearer's arms are in the sleeves, the person restraining the wearer crosses the sleeves against the chest and ties the ends of the sleeves to the back of the jacket, ensuring the arms are close to the chest with as little movement as possible.

Although straitjacket is the most common spelling, strait-jacket or straightjacket are also used. Straitjackets are also called camisoles[1][2][3] or strait-waistcoats.[4]

The effect of a straitjacket as a restraint makes it of special interest in escapology. The straitjacket is also a staple prop in stage magic.

The straitjacket comes from the Georgian era of medicine. Physical restraint was used both as treatment for mental illness and to pacify patients in understaffed asylums.

Due to their strength, canvas and duck cloth are the most common materials for institutional straitjackets.

History

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Victorian straitjacket on display at Glenside Museum

The straitjacket was invented in approximately 1770 in France.[4] Scholars such as Michel Foucault claimed that the first straitjacket was created by an upholsterer named Guilleret for the Bicêtre Hospital in Paris, though Benoît Majerus expressed doubt about the authenticity of this.[5] During this early period, the straitjacket was also referred to as a "camisole" or "strait waistcoat", and in 19th century Germany it was called the "Spanish straitjacket".[6][5] In this context, the word "strait" referred to the garment's "tightly drawn" nature.[7]

An 1838 depiction of a patient restrained with a straitjacket.

The straitjacket was designed to restrain inmates at psychiatric asylums.[4] Intended as a "humane" alternative to metal restraints like chains and shackles, they would provide wearers with a greater degree of mobility while preventing them from harming themselves or others.[8][9] Patients were also restrained with straitjackets to make them easier to manage by staff.[10]

Early straitjackets were typically closed at the back by buttons and strings, and had long sleeves that were tied around the back of the wearer. Some straitjackets covered the head, restrained the legs or were constructed to secure the wearer to a bed.[5] Institutions such as the Eastern Oregon State Hospital in Pendleton sewed their own straitjackets.[8] Early straitjackets were made of canvas and occasionally leather. According to Majerus, the softness of the fabrics meant that straitjackets were more often used on women than men.[5] Research by Elizabeth Willis found that a straitjacket that originated from Beechworth Asylum's Female Ward 2 (now kept in the Museum of Victoria's collections) had been modified for the comfort of the patient it restrained: "Someone—we do not know who—has sewn a roll of stockingette [sic] around the collar of the straitjacket, to prevent the rough canvas chafing the neck of the wearer."[11]

Despite its popular consideration as humane, straitjackets were misused. Over time, asylums filled with patients and lacked adequate staff to provide proper care. The attendants were often ill-trained to work with the mentally ill and resorted to restraints to maintain order and calm. In fact, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some prisons even used straitjackets to punish or torture inmates.[12]

Modified variants of the garment are still in use. A particular brand of straitjacket is called an "Argentino" suit, manufactured by PSP Argentino Inc. In Canada in 2015, there was a class action lawsuit that won over the misuse of the restraint.[13][14]

Security

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Straitjacket on display at Glenside Museum

The security of a straitjacket depends very much on its size, which should be as small as practicable to be secure. A tight jacket at the chest and armpits will make it difficult for the wearer to pull the arms out of the sleeves.

The sleeves of the jacket are sewn shut at the ends—a significant restraint in itself because it restrains the use of the hands. The arms are folded across the front, with the ends of the sleeves wrapping around to fasten or tie behind the back. On some jackets, the sleeve-ends are anchored to the garment to allow the fastening or knot to rotate away from the wearer's hands as they move their arms, making it more difficult to undo.

Most jackets feature a crotch-strap to prevent wearers from pulling off the jacket. Some bear loops at the front and/or sides; the sleeves are threaded through these to prevent the arms from being raised over the head. Friction buckles are used to fasten institutional jackets with webbing or cloth straps because they are difficult to open without a free pair of hands.

In stage magic, gimmicked jackets, made for magicians who practice escape stunts, omit arm loops, fasten with simpler buckles, and/or leave hidden openings in the sleeves.

Safety

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Wearing an institutional straitjacket for long periods of time may cause pain for wearers. Blood pools in the elbows, causing swelling. The hands may become numb from lack of proper circulation. Bone and muscle stiffness causes the upper arms and shoulders to experience pain. Many wearers in these situations attempt to move and stretch their arms by thrashing around in their jackets, which is why institutions take great precautions, such as monitoring patients and conforming to strict protocols, when outfitting people in straitjackets.[citation needed] When the hands are not available, if someone trips and falls, he or she won't be able to stop their fall and may sustain serious injury, therefore straitjackets must only be applied in safe environments and be monitored indefinitely.

Escapology

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After seeing a patient restrained with a straitjacket in an asylum in Canada, Harry Houdini introduced the straitjacket to his escapology performances. He would often escape from straitjackets while suspended upside down.[15] In 1916, approximately 50,000 spectators gathered in Baltimore to watch Houdini escape from a straitjacket; it took him three minutes to free himself.[16] This act has been recreated by numerous escapologists since.[17][18][19]

As of 10 June 2016, Lucas Wilson from Toronto currently holds four Guinness World Records related to straitjacket escapology: he has performed the most straitjacket escapes in one hour (98 escapes), the fastest underwater straitjacket escape (22.86 seconds), and the fastest suspended straitjacket escape without chains (8.4 seconds), and the fastest suspended straitjacket escape with chains (10.6 seconds).[20][21][22]

References

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  1. ^ "camisole definition: Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)". Random House Unabridged Dictionary. Random House. 2006. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
  2. ^ Thatcher, Virginia S., ed. (1970). The New Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary of The English Language. McQueen, Alexander. Chicago: Consolidated Book Publishers. p. 116. ISBN 0-8326-0021-0. A short light garment worn by ladies when dressed in negligee; strait jacket for lunatics or criminals condemned to the guillotine.
  3. ^ Miller-Keane Encyclopedia & Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, 5th edition
  4. ^ a b c "From asylums to anarchy: The straitjacket and popular culture | National Science and Media Museum". National Science and Media Museum. Archived from the original on April 20, 2026. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d Majerus, Benoît (2017). "The straitjacket, the bed, and the pill: Material culture and madness". In Eghigian, Greg (ed.). The Routledge History of Madness and Mental Health. Routledge. pp. 263–276. ISBN 9781315202211.
  6. ^ Chaney, Sarah (April 19, 2022). "Psychiatry's Material Culture: The Symbolic Power of the Straitjacket". In Millard, Chris; Wallis, Jennifer (eds.). Sources in the History of Psychiatry, from 1800 to the Present. London: Routledge. pp. 1–18. ISBN 9781003087694.
  7. ^ "Straitjackets: The History of an Archaic Restraint Device". History Hit. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  8. ^ a b Bynum, Bill; Bynum, Helen (April 16, 2016). "The straitjacket". The Lancet. 387 (10028): 1607. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30206-9. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 27116059.
  9. ^ Rogers, Adrian (February 27, 2024). "Straitjackets Are Still in Use, Just Not Where You Think". science.howstuffworks.com. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  10. ^ "STRAITJACKET (Straitjacket)". Curating Visibility. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  11. ^ Willis, Elizabeth (November 1, 1995). "Home but away: Material evidence of lives in Victorian asylums, 1850–1950". Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. 2 (2): 111–116. doi:10.1080/13218719509524858. ISSN 1321-8719.
  12. ^ (Black 1926, pp. 241–245)
  13. ^ "Recours collectif contre des mesures de contention". tvanouvelles.ca.
  14. ^ "Mesures de contention et d'isolement abusives : La Cour Supérieure entérine une Entente de règlement d'un recours collectif pour indemniser des victimes de contention abusives". www.newswire.ca. Archived from the original on June 6, 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  15. ^ "Escape Secrets | American Experience | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  16. ^ April 2026, Ron Cassie | (April 16, 2026). "In 1916, Harry Houdini Escaped a Straitjacket Dangled Above a Packed Baltimore Street". Baltimore Magazine. Retrieved June 21, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ PennLive, Lisa Wardle | Special to (November 6, 2016). "Magician recreates Houdini's historic straitjacket escape 100 years to the date". pennlive. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  18. ^ Koncius, Jura (November 1, 1977). "Great Escape, Houdini-Style". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  19. ^ YOUNG, CHRIS. "Great escape: Magician, wife want to free memorabilia". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  20. ^ "How to escape a straight jacket underwater | Watch News Videos Online". Global News. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  21. ^ "Most straitjacket escapes in one hour". Guinness World Records. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  22. ^ "Canadian escapologist sets record freeing himself from straightjacket underwater - Guinness World Records Italian Show". Guinness World Records. August 19, 2016. Archived from the original on March 1, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2026.

Bibliography

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  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Straitjackets at Wikimedia Commons
  • Wiktionary logo The dictionary definition of straitjacket at Wiktionary
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