NATL: Guards use Attack Dogs in Cell Extractions

Human Rights Watch released a report in October revealing that five state prison systems (Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, South Dakota and Utah) use attack dogs to force prisoners out of cells. The guards allow the dogs to bite, and if prisoners try to protect themselves, they are placed in restraints and removed from the cells.

Many prison systems use dogs to search for contraband or to patrol prison grounds, but only the five states listed have written policies that allow dogs to attack non-compliant prisoners. Arizona and Massachusetts ended a similar policy in 2006. The Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections stated that there were better ways to gain compliance from a person “than sending in an animal to rip his flesh.”

This news brief is based on the Human Rights Watch Report Cruel and Degrading: The Use of Dogs for Cell Extractions in U.S. Prisons. If the link is broken, check their archive.