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Prisons and Jails

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Volkonski
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Prisons and Jails

#1

Post by Volkonski »



Jessica Bruno
@JbrunoKFOR
·
34m
JAIL HOSTAGE SITUATION: Not sharing audio of this clip at this time due to inappropriate language. But Facebook live video is coming in from the 10th floor of the Oklahoma County jail where a corrections officer is being held hostage, according to OCSO officials.
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Jail & Prison Issues

#2

Post by LM K »

I really wish this article's title better highlighted that this lawsuit includes excessive physical restraint and abuse. The three officers involved were so abusive that the county DA investigated the officers. He seemed the officer's behavior as "cruel and inhumane".

When the DA began his investigation, two of the officers resigned and the third officer retired.

Oklahoma jail officers played ‘Baby Shark’ on repeat as a ‘torture tactic,’ federal lawsuit says
It was almost midnight on Nov. 30, 2019, when two Oklahoma County Detention Center officers escorted Joseph Mitchell into a vacant room. They handcuffed him behind his back and secured him to the wall, a federal lawsuit says.

Then, they queued up the children’s song “Baby Shark,” which allegedly played on loop for three to four hours while Mitchell was forced to stand.

:snippity:

Last year, the Oklahoma County district attorney’s office investigated the incidents and charged the two former jail employees and their supervisor with cruelty to a prisoner and conspiracy, the lawsuit says. Former Oklahoma County Sheriff P.D. Taylor told the Associated Press last fall that officers Christian Charles Miles and Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. resigned during an internal investigation and that Lt. Christopher Raymond Hendershott retired.
:snippity:

The song and other genres of music have been used as a “device to torment,” the Oklahoma lawsuit says. In July 2019, West Palm Beach, Fla., officials began playing “Baby Shark” on repeat to deter homeless people from sleeping or convening overnight at an events space. Interrogators at Guantánamo Bay also notably blasted heavy metal as a technique to break down prisoners.

Mitchell, along with plaintiffs Daniel Hedrick and John Basco, who were all awaiting trial at the Oklahoma County Detention Center, said in the lawsuit that they were forced to listen to “Baby Shark” on loop while restrained and standing for hours.
:snippity:

The officers then allegedly played “Baby Shark” on high volume from a computer in an adjacent room. Hedrick stood there for an hour and a half.
The shift commander, Hendershott, was aware “but took no action to intervene and stop the misconduct,” the lawsuit says.

The officers allegedly did the same to Mitchell a week later and again on Dec. 7 to Basco, who was forced to stand and listen to the song for about two hours.

“This prolonged restraint … under the conditions described herein, is tantamount to torture, was excessive and not rationally related to any legitimate governmental or penological purpose,”
the detainees’ lawyers argue.

The lawsuit adds that the men “posed no threat to the officers or anyone else,” were “compliant” and were “not actively resisting any lawful command.”

The fourth former detainee on the lawsuit, Ja’Lee Foreman Jr., was spared from the “Baby Shark” loop when the officers allegedly got distracted by another incident in the jail. But the lawsuit claims Foreman was subject to unwarranted verbal and physical assault.

On Nov. 2, 2019, the officers “accosted” Foreman, who was 18 and “small in stature,” “without provocation,” the lawsuit says. Miles allegedly taunted and yelled obscenities at Foreman and threatened to beat him, saying: “I’m going to make sure you live in hell!”
:snippity:

“After removing the handcuffs, officer Miles, in the presence of officer Butler, drove his knee into Mr. Foreman’s back as he slammed him into the wall of his cell,” the lawsuit says. “As Mr. Foreman turned around, officer Miles then spit into Mr. Foreman’s face. Both officer Miles and officer Butler laughed at Mr. Foreman as they left the cell pod.”

Miles and Butler have a history of mistreating detainees and were subjects of many complaints, District Attorney David Prater said following his office’s investigation into the incidents. Prater called the use of “Baby Shark” “cruel and inhumane,” and said it put “undue emotional stress on the detainees who were most likely already suffering,”
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Re: Jail & Prison Issues

#3

Post by LM K »

The DA, after investigating the officer's actions, charged all three for "cruelty to a prisoner and conspiracy".
:snippity:
Two former detention employees, Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles, both 21, and their supervisor, Christopher Raymond Hendershott, 50, were charged with misdemeanor counts of cruelty to a prisoner and conspiracy as a result of the investigation.

A jury trial in the criminal case is set for February
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Prisons and Jails

#4

Post by RTH10260 »

Incarcerated people use TikTok videos to expose Alabama’s prison conditions
Understaffing, overcrowding and a lack of healthcare fueled a crisis in a state with the world’s highest incarceration rate

Michael Sainato
Fri 26 May 2023 11.00 BST

Last year 270 people in Alabama’s prisons died, the most of any calendar year on record. The deaths included 19 homicides. Those in prison, their family members and prison advocates have used TikTok to highlight the degrading conditions in Alabama’s prisons, even as the Department of Justice is preparing an unprecedented legal action against the state.

Severe understaffing, overcrowding, violence, drug use and a lack of adequate medical and mental healthcare and basic necessities have fueled a crisis in the state’s prisons for years. But the horrific state of Alabama’s prisons has begun to attract new attention as those affected have posted videos using the #prisontoks and #alabama hashtags to highlight the parlous state of affairs.

Bernard Jemison, currently incarcerated at Ventress correctional facility in Clayton, Alabama, has posted numerous videos on social media depicting fellow prisoners who say they’ve received little to no medical attention for chronic or debilitating medical issues. Individuals in the videos discuss ailments ranging from untreated psoriasis infections, broken ribs, untreated surgery complications and chronic untreated pain.

One of the prisoners in Jemison’s videos, William Davis, has a swollen face due to an infection and points out he is not provided with adequate colostomy bags for his chronic medical condition.

“His face is entirely swollen, over a week now and he still hasn’t received treatment. Colostomy patients should get 60 bags a month. William only gets 10 a month,” Jemison said. “Alabama healthcare towards prisoners is a joke. In Alabama, people are dying because steps that could be taken – that would cost a little money – are not being taken simply because we are incarcerated people.”

Alabama has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world and sixth highest of all states in the US with its prison system operating at 168% capacity. About 19,000 men were in Alabama’s prison system as of January in facilities designed to house 11,000 people.

The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Alabama in 2020 over dangerous and overcrowding conditions, with a trial set to begin next year. The case was filed under the Trump administration – not known for its support of incarcerated people’s rights – and signed by the then US attorney general, William Barr, after lengthy attempts to negotiate a settlement and pre-empt the unprecedented intervention.

Alabama has attempted to build its way out of the problem – spending nearly $1bn on a new prison near Montgomery, Alabama, and pledging an additional $600m to build a second mega-prison by 2026.

The plans were criticized by the justice department in a 2019 letter, stating building new facilities alone will not solve Alabama’s prison issues.

Staffing shortages have exacerbated the crisis.

The Alabama department of corrections has reported a vacancy rate of nearly 64% in security staffing. Several correctional officers in Alabama have been arrested over the past year for corruption, bribery and misconduct.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ons-tiktok
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sugar magnolia
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Prisons and Jails

#5

Post by sugar magnolia »

That's a relief. As of August last year, Mississippi held the honor of the highest incarceration rate in the world. So thanks again Alabama, I guess?
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