It makes sense for the sheriff and guard captain to get upset about a long-standing failure to invest in justice equipment, sure, but as it stands now the rate at which they go from perfectly happy to homicidally berserk exclusively over the issue of a few missing chains is just too fast, especially when compared to other nobles' demands. I got about ten nobles at once and, having already learned about the guard captain's quirks, immediately devoted everything to producing chains and cages for him. It didn't matter; by the time my second cage was completed, he was already throwing a tantrum and well on his way to going berserk.
Note that I'd completely ignored all the other nobles--including many far higher-ranking nobles--to focus on the guard captain here. None of these other nobles were below 'happy' when the guard captain snapped. I eventually, by locking him in his quarters until the chains were done and in place, managed to get it done and stabilize him, but it was a close thing. At no point during these proceedings did any of my other nobles drop significantly below 'happy', even though I was completely ignoring their demands and mandates to focus on my psychotic guard captain... but I know, from experience, that if I hadn't gotten lucky and locked him in his quarters he would've torn my fortress apart.
This situation is particularly nasty, of course, because the guard captain is always strong enough to take a few other dwarves down with him when he snaps... and because, to a new player, it isn't immediately obvious that the guard captain is demanding chains at all, never mind the fact that they're considered several times more important than the more obvious requests made by your other nobles.
It's not really that bad for an experienced player, since it just means that you have to make building eight or so chains or cages an early first priority after getting your forge or rope-making facilities going, long before your nobles start arriving... but for players who don't know about it in advance, it's really pretty nasty.
[ August 25, 2006: Message edited by: Aquillion ]