strongernow
06-30-2004, 09:38 AM
Prisoner abuse here and over there
Friday, Jun 25, 2004
By Jack Moseley
The handcuffed man was crying and begging for some kind of help. Blood flowed from his mouth, his nose and one eye that were swollen. There were cuts on his face that could have been made by brass knuckles or a heavy ring with sharp edges.
"What happened to him?" I asked.
"Resisted arrest," the detective said with a grin and a wink. The poor fellow was not taken to a hospital until several hours later, when he was still coughing up blood.
I soon learned that this particular detective's prisoners frequently "resisted," and he was very proud of that big ring he wore on his right hand.
That was more than 40 years ago. You'd think a lot has changed since then, but it really hasn't. A young man just last week told me how a police officer in another state took him into a hallway and made him strip naked, then covered him with pepper spray.
We get all excited about the abuse and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners of war, but we ignore what most of us know goes on inside the jails and prisons of America. After all, those people are criminals, not much better than animals. Lying is a way of life with them. They deserve what they get from their keepers and from fellow inmates. That's until someone you love is put in that situation. Only then does it become wrong.
Prisoners are both abused and neglected in this country far more often than we want to admit. As New York Times columnist Bob Herbert says, "We have a lousy record when it comes to protecting well-behaved, weak and mentally ill prisoners from the predators surrounding them." And sometimes, the predators are those who have the keys to the cells.
You probably don't remember the Georgia prison director a few years back who declared that 30 to 35 percent of the convicts in his care "ain't fit to kill. And I'm going to be there to accommodate them."
To demonstrate just how tough he was, inmates of a medium security unit were made to strip, undergo body cavity searches, dance and undergo other sick abuse with female guards watching and laughing.
Sounds a lot like what went on in Iraq, doesn't it?
Right now, there's a federal investigation aimed at the treatment of Indian prisoners in special prisons operated by the Department of Interior for Native Americans.
One of several deaths being probed involved a young woman who died of convulsive alcohol poisoning. Prison rules called for her to be checked every 15 minutes. A video camera recorded that she died a terrible death after no one checked on her for an hour or longer.
In cases like that, families may be compensated if and when they file lawsuits. But when it comes to humiliating and emotionally abusing human beings as seemed a condoned practice in Iraq, American convicts are just out of luck.
You see, we have a law that establishes the policy of these United States of America. Enacted under Bill Clinton, it states that no prisoner can be compensated for "mental or emotional injury" while in custody.
Meanwhile, our government is talking about paying Iraqi prisoners of war because of the "mental and emotional" injuries they received.
It makes you wonder, doesn't it? Of course, all those 2 million-plus people behind bars in this country are criminals, and some of those Iraqis were trying to kill our soldiers. Maybe American convicts deserve a little mental and emotional abuse. And then again, maybe not. No one know what will happen to you or someone you love tomorrow.
Life, luck and -30-.
-------
Jack Moseley writes for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock.
Friday, Jun 25, 2004
By Jack Moseley
The handcuffed man was crying and begging for some kind of help. Blood flowed from his mouth, his nose and one eye that were swollen. There were cuts on his face that could have been made by brass knuckles or a heavy ring with sharp edges.
"What happened to him?" I asked.
"Resisted arrest," the detective said with a grin and a wink. The poor fellow was not taken to a hospital until several hours later, when he was still coughing up blood.
I soon learned that this particular detective's prisoners frequently "resisted," and he was very proud of that big ring he wore on his right hand.
That was more than 40 years ago. You'd think a lot has changed since then, but it really hasn't. A young man just last week told me how a police officer in another state took him into a hallway and made him strip naked, then covered him with pepper spray.
We get all excited about the abuse and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners of war, but we ignore what most of us know goes on inside the jails and prisons of America. After all, those people are criminals, not much better than animals. Lying is a way of life with them. They deserve what they get from their keepers and from fellow inmates. That's until someone you love is put in that situation. Only then does it become wrong.
Prisoners are both abused and neglected in this country far more often than we want to admit. As New York Times columnist Bob Herbert says, "We have a lousy record when it comes to protecting well-behaved, weak and mentally ill prisoners from the predators surrounding them." And sometimes, the predators are those who have the keys to the cells.
You probably don't remember the Georgia prison director a few years back who declared that 30 to 35 percent of the convicts in his care "ain't fit to kill. And I'm going to be there to accommodate them."
To demonstrate just how tough he was, inmates of a medium security unit were made to strip, undergo body cavity searches, dance and undergo other sick abuse with female guards watching and laughing.
Sounds a lot like what went on in Iraq, doesn't it?
Right now, there's a federal investigation aimed at the treatment of Indian prisoners in special prisons operated by the Department of Interior for Native Americans.
One of several deaths being probed involved a young woman who died of convulsive alcohol poisoning. Prison rules called for her to be checked every 15 minutes. A video camera recorded that she died a terrible death after no one checked on her for an hour or longer.
In cases like that, families may be compensated if and when they file lawsuits. But when it comes to humiliating and emotionally abusing human beings as seemed a condoned practice in Iraq, American convicts are just out of luck.
You see, we have a law that establishes the policy of these United States of America. Enacted under Bill Clinton, it states that no prisoner can be compensated for "mental or emotional injury" while in custody.
Meanwhile, our government is talking about paying Iraqi prisoners of war because of the "mental and emotional" injuries they received.
It makes you wonder, doesn't it? Of course, all those 2 million-plus people behind bars in this country are criminals, and some of those Iraqis were trying to kill our soldiers. Maybe American convicts deserve a little mental and emotional abuse. And then again, maybe not. No one know what will happen to you or someone you love tomorrow.
Life, luck and -30-.
-------
Jack Moseley writes for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock.