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Cal. WIC § 210.6

This is the official text of Cal. WIC § 210.6, part of California’s Welfare and Institutions Code — governs public social services, juvenile justice, and mental health/developmental disability services.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

(a) (1) Mechanical restraints, including, but not limited to, handcuffs, chains, irons, straitjackets or cloth or leather restraints, or other similar items, may be used on a juvenile detained in or committed to a local secure juvenile facility, camp, ranch, or forestry camp, as established pursuant to Sections 850 and 881, during transportation outside of the facility only upon a determination made by the probation department, in consultation with the transporting agency, that the mechanical restraints are necessary to prevent physical harm to the juvenile or another person or due to a substantial risk of flight.

(2) If a determination is made that mechanical restraints are necessary, the least restrictive form of restraint shall be used consistent with the legitimate security needs of each juvenile.

(3) A county probation department that chooses to use mechanical restraints other than handcuffs on juveniles shall establish procedures for the documentation of their use, including the reasons for the use of those mechanical restraints.

(4) This subdivision does not apply to mechanical restraints used by medical care providers in the course of medical care or transportation.

(b) (1) Mechanical restraints may only be used during a juvenile court proceeding if the court determines that the individual juvenile’s behavior in custody or in court establishes a manifest need to use mechanical restraints to prevent physical harm to the juvenile or another person or due to a substantial risk of flight.

(2) The burden to establish the need for mechanical restraints pursuant to paragraph (1) is on the prosecution.

(3) If the court determines that mechanical restraints are necessary, the least restrictive form of restraint shall be used and the reasons for the use of mechanical restraints shall be documented in the record.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.