Brutal U.S. jail

Improper? Undoubtedly. But the more this is publicized, the more people might think twice about doing crimes

The surveillance video from the overhead cameras shows Hanni Elabed being beaten by a fellow inmate in a US prison, managing to bang on a prison guard station window, pleading for help. Behind the glass, correctional officers look on, but no-one intervenes when Elabed is knocked unconscious.

No-one steps into the cellblock when the attacker sits down to rest, and no-one stops him when he resumes the beating.

The footage is a key piece of evidence for critics who claim the privately run Idaho Correctional Centre uses inmate-on-inmate violence to force prisoners to snitch on their cellmates or risk being moved to extremely violent units.

Lawsuits from inmates contend the company that runs the prison in this north central state, the Corrections Corporation of America, denies prisoners medical treatment as a way of covering up the assaults. They have dubbed the Idaho lockup "gladiator school" because it is so violent.

The videos show at least three guards watching as Elabed was stomped on a dozen times. At no time during the recorded sequence did anyone try to pull away James Haver, a short, slight man.

About two minutes after Haver stopped the beating of his own accord, the metal cellblock door was unlocked. Haver was handcuffed and Elabed was examined for signs of life. He bled inside his skull and would spend three days in a coma.

CCA, which oversees some 75,000 inmates in more than 60 facilities under contracts with the federal government, 19 states and Washington DC, has faced allegations of abuse by guards elsewhere.

Before the Idaho attack, Elabed tried to get help from prison staffers, telling them that he had been threatened and giving them details about drug trafficking between inmates and staffers that he had witnessed, according to his lawsuit. He was put in solitary confinement for his protection but was later returned to the same unit with the inmates he snitched on, his lawsuit said. He was on the cellblock only six minutes before he was attacked.

Elabed, who was originally sentenced to two to 12 years for robbery, was ultimately released on a medical parole because he was too badly injured to be cared for in prison.

Original report here




(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here