# one armed handcuffs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 10, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266 "2008-10-10T01:41:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YPOD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e99b99/32.png) [@YPOD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YPOD)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/1 "2008-10-10T01:41:28Z")
I was watching Prison Break the other night, and if you know the show, one of the villains has only one arm. How would a cop handcuff or restrain a one armed man? Me and Richard Kimble want to know. ---
**Author:** ![mrpayday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@mrpayday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrpayday)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/2 "2008-10-10T01:49:00Z")
In the book _Executioner Pierrepoint_ (the biography of the British executioner) there is a photo of a restraint for a one-armed man. There seems to be a belt to which the wrist and elbow are strapped. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/3 "2008-10-10T01:58:57Z")
Handcuff one wrist to an immobile object. Handcuff one wrist to one ankle. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/4 "2008-10-10T02:06:56Z")
Scratch that last one - I just tried and my ankle is way too big to be cuffed. I guess I was thinking the cuffs would open up wide enough (which they do) but they don’t form a large enough circle when closed to encircle an ankle. I tried closing the spare cuff around… eh, something else, which seems like it could work. Of course that would probably put the cop at risk of molestation charges. ---
**Author:** ![mrpayday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@mrpayday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrpayday)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/5 "2008-10-10T02:09:04Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Handcuff one wrist to an immobile object. > > Handcuff one wrist to one ankle. I haven’t watched Prison Break for a while, but didn’t handcuffing him to an immobile object cause this problem in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![WoodenTaco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@WoodenTaco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WoodenTaco)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/6 "2008-10-10T03:55:44Z")
Cuff 'em to an officer? ---
**Author:** ![Beauregard\_Porkypine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Beauregard\_Porkypine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauregard_Porkypine)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/7 "2008-10-10T04:57:17Z")
If the suspect is wearing a belt you can hook one cuff to that. Some officers carry a belly chain in the cruiser that would serve the same purpose. ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/8 "2008-10-10T05:58:53Z")
Another rather idle question: if the suspect is missing a hand at the wrist or something, how would one restrain the stump? (This is assuming that you’d need to. I have no idea if you can throw a punch with a well-healed stump without seriously wrecking it.) ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/9 "2008-10-10T11:38:23Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Scratch that last one - I just tried and my ankle is way too big to be cuffed. I guess I was thinking the cuffs would open up wide enough (which they do) but they don’t form a large enough circle when closed to encircle an ankle. > > I tried closing the spare cuff around… eh, something else, which seems like it could work. Of course that would probably put the cop at risk of molestation charges. Life must be …interesting around your house. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/10 "2008-10-10T13:13:42Z")
> [@wunderkammer](#): > > Another rather idle question: if the suspect is missing a hand at the wrist or something, how would one restrain the stump? (This is assuming that you’d need to. I have no idea if you can throw a punch with a well-healed stump without seriously wrecking it.) T-Bag could. The man is amazing. He handcuffed himself to Michael Scofield to insure that he would be able to escape with the others. Abruzzi, another prisoner who T-Bag had tried to kill, chopped off T-Bag’s cuffed hand at the wrist as an act of revenge. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-armed-handcuffs/467266/11 "2008-10-10T13:19:23Z")
To transport prisoners when they have a cast they use leg shackles. I’m sure if a one armed prisoner is so violent they can’t leave the arm free, they will use a cuff on his wrist and attach it to the ankle cuffs.