ICE Buys 6,000 Electric Shock Gloves for $16.7M

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded a $16.7 million contract to buy 6,000 pairs of gloves that deliver painful electric shocks, saying officers need them to control detainees and protesters who resist.

A notice published in a federal database Thursday says ICE entered a no-bid contract with Compliant Technologies LLC, a Kentucky-based manufacturer. The deal covers the 6,000 devices plus support equipment and services over the next six months.

ICE posted the notice hours after 16 Senate Democrats demanded the agency scrap the plan.

How the Gloves Work

The devices are ordinary patrol gloves until an officer presses a button to switch on the electrical mode. They must touch a person's skin to produce a shock, and the pain is marketed as a way to force compliance from someone who is resisting. Some local jails and police departments have used them in recent years.

ICE's notice says officers would deploy them in "high-tension environments," including arrests, transporting combative detainees and responding to civil disturbances outside detention facilities.

"It will be used when a subject is actively or passively resisting and an officer needs to gain control quickly to prevent injuries to both parties," the document says.

The agency says the shocks would help "maintain control over inmates and prevent aggression or escape attempts," let officers cuff people hiding their hands, and assist in crowd control — with the goal of avoiding "more severe force," including firearms. The notice says the gloves would be used under "approved policy, training, and accountability standards" but does not spell those out.