Jonathan Moens

Coercive Care: Southern Europe’s Reliance on Elder Restraints In parts of Europe, nursing homes use physical restraints on residents, citing safety. But experts warn of harm.

We must ensure that physical restrains are the past – the future of taking care of #OlderPersons must be without violations of their #HumanRights and their physical wellbeing!

Read this article by @jonathanmoens.bsky.social in @undark.org

undark.org/2025/07/25/e...

Coercive Care: Southern Europe’s Reliance on Elder Restraints In parts of Europe, nursing homes use physical restraints on residents, citing safety. But experts warn of harm.

Really powerful article from @jonathanmoens.bsky.social
and colleagues about the abuse of older people through restraints. Focuses on Italy, Spain and Portugal but occurs much more widely
undark.org/2025/07/25/e...

Many thanks to #IJ4EU fund for the support.

Atar a los mayores: muchas residencias siguen sujetando a personas, a pesar de la falta de base científica Aunque la legislación las reserva como último recurso por el riesgo de daño, las sujeciones en centros de mayores son más rutinarias de lo esperable: los profesionales explican que a veces no hay más ...

And the other versions, focusing on their national context:

- in Spanish with @eldiario.es : www.eldiario.es/sociedad/ata...

- in Portuguese with @jornalexpresso.bsky.social : expresso.pt/sociedade/20...

- in Italian with L'Espresso (in print and soon online): lespresso.it/c/attualita/...

Coercive Care: Southern Europe’s Reliance on Elder Restraints In parts of Europe, nursing homes use physical restraints on residents, citing safety. But experts warn of harm.

Our investigation is published across four publications and in four languages. Here's the English version:
- @undark.org: undark.org/2025/07/25/e...

We can't imagine how difficult it is to be a nurse — especially in understaffed, high-pressure environments. But the evidence, and the testimonies we gathered, point to a system that too often relies on restraints not for care, but for control.

We also found that there is virtually no scientific evidence they improve patient outcomes. On the contrary, they can cause serious physical and psychological harm.

National laws, regulations and guidelines, meanwhile, claim restraints should only be used as a last resort. But through FOI requests, court documents, interviews & more, we found that physical restraints are often used routinely — sometimes with deadly consequences.

We focused on Italy, Spain, and Portugal, three of Europe’s fastest ageing countries where such restraints are still commonly used. Many health professionals justify the practice, saying it prevents elderly people from falling, wandering, or pulling out IV lines.

Over the past few months, @nataliedonback.bsky.social, Joana Ascensão and I have been investigating a widespread yet little-known practice in European elder care: the use of physical restraints in nursing homes — belts, straps, bed sheets, and side rails that restrict movement.

thanks to @ire.org for the support & @mattbwarren.bsky.social & rest of the team for editing

despite being inadmissible in court since 2010, we found evidence that BEOS is still influencing court rulings and is being marketed to law enforcement agencies around the world. in two cases, suspected rapists were released from police custody in large part because BEOS pointed to their innocence

touted as a scientific alternative to torture, BEOS is marketed as near-infallible. but every independent neuroscientist and legal expert i spoke with said the opposite: the science is deeply flawed, based on weak studies and unproven claims about memory

i learnt that police and investigative agencies continue to use the systems, which can cost upward of $100,000, to generate leads, corroborate findings, and screen suspects -- sometimes years after the original crime

India's use of brain scans in courts dismays critics (Published 2008)

i first came across the technology, known as BEOS, years ago when i read a NYT article about it published in 2008. BEOS was used to convict a woman called Aditi Sharma of poisoning her former fiancé. this was in 2008. so i wondered: what happened since?

www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/w...

suspects are made to wear a headset and listen to crime-related phrases like "I pulled out my knife," or "I stabbed him in the back." the machine claims to detect if they actively participated in these scenarios — and police have used it in murder, rape, and terrorism cases.

Indian police are trying to ‘read minds' of suspects, over neuroscientists' objections A controversial profiling of the brain’s electrical activity has shaped court decisions and bail applications

for @ScienceMagazine i spent the past year investigating a brain technology used by Indian police to determine if suspects committed a crime. the technology has been used in hundreds high-stake cases. yet it has little to no science backing. 🧵
www.science.org/content/arti...

Unmasking MrDeepFakes: Canadian Pharmacist Linked to World’s Most Notorious Deepfake Porn Site - bellingcat Double life: open source investigation reveals Canadian hospital pharmacist's links to MrDeepFakes, the most notorious deepfake porn website in the world.

Exclusive: Bellingcat in partnership with @tjekdet.dk , @politiken.dk and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) can reveal the identity of a key administrator behind MrDeepFakes, one of the world’s largest providers of non-consensual deepfake pornography. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/05...

also many thanks to @journalismfund.bsky.social for the support

Brazil communities accuse companies of ‘green grabbing’ for wind energy Jeane Da Gama Costa, 42, grew up in Umburanas, a small municipality of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil. Her family raised cattle for meat and grew crops like beans, corn and watermelon. It was a quiet a...

news.mongabay.com/2025/03/braz...

obrigado!

Brazil communities accuse companies of ‘green grabbing’ for wind energy Jeane Da Gama Costa, 42, grew up in Umburanas, a small municipality of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil. Her family raised cattle for meat and grew crops like beans, corn and watermelon. It was a quiet a...

Check out the latest publication of the stunning investigative journalism project by @jonathanmoens.bsky.social and @thojbauer.bsky.social in @mongabay.bsky.social, refering to our empirical study on green grabbing for renewable energy in Brazil @naturesustain.bsky.social

thanks especially to @thojbauer.bsky.social who travelled to Bahia and Piaui to do the on-the-ground reporting and without whom i would not have been able to do this complex project.

as well as on @MongabayOrg in English

La corsa alle terre per le rinnovabili. Le strategie di Enel in Brasile Enel Green Power è diventata una delle più grandi aziende di rinnovabili in Brasile. Tuttavia, ha raggiunto questa posizione in parte appoggiandosi a società locali, accusate in diversi casi di land g...

in Italian on @irpimedia.eu: irpimedia.irpi.eu/enel-brasile... (thanks to Michele Luppy and Federico Marsi from PlaceMarks for the visuals)

Home | Intercept Brasil Responsabilizamos os poderosos com um jornalismo investigativo destemido

you can find the articles in Portuguese for @theintercept.com www.intercept.com.br

experts also told us that companies will take advantage of the fact that residents often won't officially register the geographical boundaries of the land they occupy (an expensive process). companies expand their territorial boundaries, swallowing up these unregistered areas.

what we found was that Enel relies heavily on local companies to do the often-contentious work of securing land striking contracts with locals. contracts last 40+ years and pay small sums, meaning they effectively remain in the hands companies for multiple generations.

photojournalist @thojbauer.bsky.social and i spent the past few months going through court & company documents, speaking to residents, Indigenous & traditional communities living inside or near parks like this one trying to understand how Enel became such a powerful force.

Large-scale green grabbing for wind and solar photovoltaic development in Brazil - Nature Sustainability The rapid expansion of low-carbon technologies in Brazil has multiple socio-economic impacts on rural populations by further fuelling competition for land and intensifying large-scale land deals. This...

the company running this park is Enel, a major Italian multinational. according to a nature 2024 study authored by @mklingler.bsky.social, Enel is one of the biggest players in renewable energy in the country & involved in mass appropriation of land.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...