Restraint and Seclusion Laws in Illinois
What are the restraint and seclusion rules in Illinois?
Illinois governs the use of physical restraint and isolated timeout (seclusion) primarily under 105 ILCS 5/10-20.33 (Public Act 102-0339) and ISBE's permanent regulations at 23 IAC §1.285 adopted under that statute. Physical restraint is permitted only when a student poses imminent danger of serious physical harm to themselves or others, no less restrictive intervention is feasible, there is no medical contraindication, and the applying staff have completed required training (105 ILCS 5/10-20.33). Critically, staff must document that de-escalation strategies were attempted and failed before resorting to physical restraint; restraint may not be the first response to challenging behavior (23 IAC §1.285). Isolated timeout in locked rooms is categorically prohibited in public schools; standard (non-locked) timeout in observable, non-confining spaces is permitted under defined conditions, and food, water, medication, and restroom access may not be withheld during any timeout (105 ILCS 5/10-20.33; 23 IAC §1.285). Schools must make a reasonable same-day attempt to notify parents and send formal written documentation within one business day; incident data must be submitted to ISBE no later than 2 school days after any use of restraint or timeout (23 IAC §1.285). ISBE publishes the annual Physical Restraint and Timeout (PRTO) Survey data publicly, enabling monitoring of incident frequency and disproportionate use by race, disability category, and district (105 ILCS 5/10-20.33). When restraint or timeout occurs on three or more days within a rolling 30-day period, a review meeting must be convened no later than 20 days after the third incident; parents must receive 10 days' notice and be invited; at least one professional (school psychologist, social worker, nurse, or behavior specialist) not involved in the incidents must attend (23 IAC §1.285). Prohibited practices include prone (face-down) restraint, supine restraint (except in strict emergencies, capped at 30 minutes), mechanical restraint, and chemical restraint (23 IAC §1.285; 105 ILCS 5/10-20.33).
What Illinois Requires
Physical restraint permitted only when student poses imminent danger of serious physical harm, no medical contraindication, and trained staff apply it (105 ILCS 5/10-20.33)
Staff must document that de-escalation strategies were attempted and found insufficient before physical restraint is used; restraint may not be the first response to behavior (23 IAC §1.285)
Isolated timeout in locked rooms is categorically prohibited; timeout rooms must be non-locked, observable, and non-confining (105 ILCS 5/10-20.33; 23 IAC §1.285)
Food, water, medication, and restroom access must not be withheld during timeout (105 ILCS 5/10-20.33)
Prohibited restraint techniques: prone restraint, supine restraint (except strict emergencies ≤30 min), mechanical restraint, chemical restraint (23 IAC §1.285; 105 ILCS 5/10-20.33)
Restraint may never be used as punishment, discipline, convenience, or retaliation (105 ILCS 5/10-20.33)
All staff applying restraint or supervising timeout must complete at least 8 hours of developmentally appropriate annual training covering crisis de-escalation, restorative practices, trauma-informed practices, and behavior management (23 IAC §1.285)
When restraint or timeout occurs on 3+ days in any 30-day period, district must convene a review meeting within 20 days of the third incident; parents receive 10 days' notice and an uninvolved school psychologist, social worker, nurse, or behavior specialist must attend (23 IAC §1.285)
ISBE collects and publicly reports annual PRTO Survey data to monitor frequency and disproportionate use of restraint and seclusion across districts, disaggregated by race and disability category (105 ILCS 5/10-20.33)
Key Timelines
Same school day: make a reasonable attempt to notify parent/guardian after each restraint or timeout incident (23 IAC §1.285)
Within 1 business day: send formal written documentation of incident and parent rights to parent/guardian (23 IAC §1.285)
Within 2 school days: submit incident data to ISBE (replaces prior '24-hour' characterization) (23 IAC §1.285)
3 incidents in 30 days: trigger review meeting, which must be held no later than 20 days after the third incident (23 IAC §1.285)