The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has begun fitting all court-bound inmates with shackles binding their arms to their bellies, sparking complaints of inhumane treatment from the Public Defender’s Office.

Sheriff’s deputies since last month have been putting the belly chains on violent and nonviolent inmates alike, making them sit shackled for hours while awaiting their court appearances, defense attorneys say. The department has compromised by taking the chains off the inmates before they enter the courtroom.

“It’s inhumane, all of the people are presumed innocent,” Deputy Public Defender Sara Ross said. “It’s not just violent offenders (being chained), but DUIs and homeless people, shackled, painfully so, chained like animals.”

Ross said she and other deputy public defenders are fighting the practice on an individual basis, case by case, which means hundreds of cases will be affected.

“It’s painful. If they drop something, they have to wiggle onto their belly to get it,” Ross said. “They’re sitting like that for 12 to 14 hours where they can’t move, they can’t scratch their heads … they’ve got T-Rex arms.”

Unlike Orange County, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the largest in the United States, does not use belly shackles on all inmates taken to court.

Orange County sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun confirmed the use of waist chains as “an added measure of safety and security for sheriff and court personnel, as well as the inmates themselves.”

Braun said previous transportation practice used wrist restraints only, but restrained inmates together in groups of four.

“This new procedure allows each inmate to be restrained individually, while maintaining an appropriate level of security. The assertion there is no consideration given for constitutionally protected activities is patently false,” she said.

Tom Dominguez, president of the union representing deputies, said the waist chains are needed for the inmates’ own safety because violent and nonviolent defendants are kept together in court holding areas.

“The inmates are not being treated like animals, and to insinuate they are is offensive,” Dominguez said. “They are treated with respect and dignity. We need to make sure the inmates are safe. We need to make sure that staff is safe.”

A court ruling on whether the chains should be used is expected this month on one of the cases defended by Ross.