Torture in Our Prisons

Article by Julia Lutsky

By the end of May, 2001, twenty-three Turkish prisoners and their supporters had died protesting the threat of isolation and torture. The Turkish government had initiated a plan the previous October to transfer prisoners to isolation cells in F-type prisons where they would be housed one to three per cell. They had previously been held in ward-like dormitories which, according to the government, are controlled by different gangs and therefore unsafe for administrative personnel. The government had tried to put the same policy in place in 1996 but desisted after twelve prisoners had died in protest fasts. This time, however, it appears determined at all costs to implement the policy. Four F-type Turkish prisons are already operational and more are planned.

What does this have to do with prisons in the United States, you wonder? A great deal, considering that both things feared by the Turkish prisoners, isolation and torture, are openly practiced here. Turkey’s F-type prisons are modeled on U.S. maximum security prisons. While Turkey has a total prison population of about 72,000, prison activists here estimate that between  40,000 and 200,000 prisoners (i.e., 2—10% of all U.S. prisoners) are housed in isolation units.

According to Morton Sklar, director of the World Organization Against Torture, super maximum (isolation or control unit) prisons all share certain characteristics:

1. Prisoners ... are kept in solitary confinement in tiny cells (six by eight feet is usual) for between twenty two and twenty three hours a day. There is no congregate dining, no congregate exercise, no work opportunities and no congregate religious services. Access to facilities or social services is severely limited.
2. These conditions exist permanently (as opposed to temporary lockdowns ...) as official policy.

Now, because US prisons are filled over capacity, two and even three prisoners may be confined in these cells, built to house only one. 

“[T]he term “torture” means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person ... when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” From the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Other Degrading Treatment or Punishment, June, 1987.

No federal law defines torture as a crime, but its presence can readily be testified to by prisoners here. All the testimonies below were made by prisoners confined to control unit cells in the Western Prison Project’s region; prisoners throughout the country report similar treatment.

From Utah, “Suffice [it] to say that control units are cruel, inhuman places where prisoners are grossly abused and mistreated ... [The Maximum Facility Intensive Management Control Unit] houses only 12 prisoners and most of them suffer from chronic genuine mental disorders. [It] is cold, dark, dirty, and noisy. Steel plates on hinges ... cover the cell doors and windows. The guards open and slam shut these plates throughout the night ... They never clean the unit. [It] is very unsanitary coated with old food, dirt and human waste.

“Prisoners ... are given one hour of out-of-cell recreation, three times per week. That ... time consists of going to a small smelly courtyard ... with a concrete floor and no roof. Other than for showers and three hours of courtyard weekly, we are never let out of our bare cells. Sensory deprivation is a severe problem. After awhile many of us hear voices.

“Whenever we leave our cells, even to the shower, they employ full restraints on us, which means being handcuffed behind the back and guided by a ‘dog leash’ attached to the handcuffs.”

From Oregon’s IMU in a Salem prison, “Here we are handcuffed at the back with a leash and escorted by two officers to and from the rec[reation] rooms and shower, one at a time.

“I [have] seen it all, people have literally gone insane, too much stress or depression or too much medication or go wild over frustration and get beat up or decide to [commit suicide. ...[W]e are practically underground, no sun, no air, no night...” [Lights are controlled by guards outside and cells are constantly illuminated.]

From Walla Walla Washington, “The CO [corrections officer] ... entered my room, put my bedding on the floor and walked over it ... As soon as I started to voice my displeasure the trash-talking guard twisted my wrist and slammed me against the wall. The only thing I could do was turn to my right to relieve the pain ... which the guard took [to be] resisting. I was then thrown to the ground and [held] by six other guards who applied pain to my body’s pressure points which made me yell out in extreme pain. I was then lifted up by my four limbs and put face down in my cell ...

“I was ordered to stand and put my hands out my cuff port to have my cuffs removed. After my cuffs were off I left my right hand out ... and demanded to talk to the lieutenant. The sergeant ... took that as a “threat” and ordered the cuff port shut on my arm. Before I could pull my arm in a CO on each side ... slammed the hatch shut trapping my arm. They then, with the sergeant and two more COs, started to punch [and] beat my arm and bend my fingers back. While I’m still trying to pull my arm in the sergeant thinks it’s a good idea to give the hatch a good kick. He gives it a good eight kicks before he allows me to retrieve my bruised and cut arm.”

From Utah maximum security, “Until four years ago Utah used a form of torture called ‘the Chair.’ The chair was/is a chair made of steel that was bolted to the floor. The prisoner was strapped down to each leg and the armrest and placed inside a bare dark cell. The room temperature of this cell was always at least 60 degrees and of course the prisoner was always naked. [In 1997] the gestapo troops got a little too zealous and a prisoner [Michael Valent] was killed. ... His mom filed a lawsuit and ... the gestapo was cleared of all wrong doing”

Speaking of another prisoner,  “[He] was directed to leave the strip cell and a urine soaked pillow case was placed over his head... He was then walked shackled and hooded to a different cell where he was placed in a device called the ‘chair.’ The chair is a restraint device designed for mentally ill persons who pose a significant danger of harming themselves or others. The inmate is stripped nude, placed in the chair, with [his] buttocks several inches below the knees. The arms and legs are then cuffed or shackled to the legs of the chair to prevent the inmate from moving. The design of the chair forces the inmate back against the chair. Mobility is almost non-existent.

“The inmate cannot relieve himself without soiling himself. He is left uncovered and unprotected, in pain and shackled. [The prisoner] was kept in the chair for over thirty hours. This resulted in extreme physical and emotional suffering.”

The chair to which Michael Valent - who heard voices and had been diagnosed schizophrenic -  was strapped was one in which Utah prisoners have been strapped for as long as four days running. Prolonged immobilization in a sitting position can cause blood to clot and block major arteries resulting in death. Valent spent 16 hours in the chair after which, when he was taken to the shower, he collapsed and died.

Since his death, “Utah has adopted a ... kinder gentler form of torture. It’s called ‘the Board’. Basically ‘the Board’ is a piece of board three feet wide [and] six feet long that is covered with towels. The prisoner is stripped and shackled spread eagle to the board. The board is then inclined from the wall. ... Three times a day a guard comes in with chow (always cold) and a bedpan. If you have to use the bathroom you do it in the bedpan. You are not unshackled. The guard holds the pan under you!! They give you Ensure which is a protein drink so you don’t have to eat solid food. This eliminates defecation.”

From Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, “I was extracted from my cell by the prison’s tactical squad. They used pepper-based gas, spraying my cell with a large dose from a canister. ... I was taken to a [recreation] yard where my clothes were cut from my person. ... This was done in the presence of female staff. I was then placed back in my cell, which was still full of gas.

“The pain induced by the gas was excruciating. The gas didn’t abate for about two or three hours. I believe this caused permanent damage to my eyesight. Prior to the gassing I had 20/20 vision; thereafter I couldn’t see five feet in front of me and required prescription eyeglasses to see.

“To compound matters they stripped my cell, leaving it completely empty. No mattress, no bedding, no toilet paper, no clothes - nothing. The next day they gave me undershorts and a T-shirt but nothing else. I was left [in the ] strip-cell for 14 days. I was told this was done to teach me a lesson.”

At a capital trial in Las Vegas, Nevada, the prisoner was obliged to wear a stun belt capable of delivering up to 50,000 volts to the kidney area for several seconds. It is controlled remotely and can be activated at will by the person holding the remote switch. The resulting shock is extremely painful and can cause the wearer to be apprehensive lest any move he make be misinterpreted. At one point during the trial, the stun belt was activated causing the prisoner to “shake uncontrollably” and to fall writhing to the floor. The belt has been known to be activated accidentally and this is precisely what happened: an officer inadvertently activated the stun belt when he touched the remote control as he leaned across a desk. The jury subsequently sentenced the defendant to death for the murder of his wife. Amnesty International noted that “It is not clear why the authorities felt it necessary to put a stun belt on [him] as he was a cooperative defendant to the point of his own self destruction. He had represented himself during the proceedings and had urged the jurors to give him the death penalty.”

Recently, because of overcrowding, Wyoming transferred 72 prisoners to Wallens Ridge State Prison in Big Stone, Virginia, one of the most infamous control unit prisons in the country. It is currently under federal investigation; prisoners transferred there from New Mexico allege that they have beaten by guards, shocked with stun guns and denied necessary medical care. The ACLU’s National Prison Project has filed suit against the prison charging that prisoners are routinely subjected to the use of stun guns or to being strapped down for up to two days for minor transgressions of prison regulations. The prison has suspended (but not stopped) the use of one type of stun gun because a prisoner died after it had been fired at him.

Defending his decision to transfer them, Governor Jim Geringer remarked that prisoners “gave up their own rights by their own choice when they committed a crime.” It is true they are forcibly removed from their homes and loved ones and must give up their right to freedom of movement. They have not, however, given up their basic right to be respected as human beings. The protection of society does not require that those who must be forcefully separated from it be further punished.

In the words of a Utah prisoner, “I have seen inmates that have cut their wrists and throats trying to get away from [four pointing, beatings and the restraint chair]. I was sentenced to one to 15 years ... for possession of stolen property. I was not sentenced to punishment that will cause me problems for the rest of my life.” [Prisoner had already served 16 years.]

Sources other than those cited above: American Friends Service Committee, Criminal Justice Program, Salt Lake Tribunal, Salt Lake City, Utah, World Organization Against Torture, USA, Cruelty in Control? “The Stun Belt and other Electro-Shock equipment in Law Enforcement,” Amnesty International report, June 1999

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2001 issue of Justice Matters.