Police Abuse and Torture

[sixpack6t9]

I subscribe to Prison Legal News, and I found an article from AZ:"Back in May, 2004, a nine-year-old runaway girl in Tucson, who was already handcuffed by police and sitting in a police vehicle, was shocked with a taser when she began to kick at the car and bang her head. The Pima County attorney general’s office conducted an investigation of the incident and decided not to bring criminal charges against the officer who used the taser. “In all likelihood, the use of the taser prevented” the girl “from injuring herself any further,” wrote David L. Berkman, the chief criminal
deputy, in explaining his decision." <<www.prisonlegalnews.org>>

This kind of mentality from law enforcement is emerging as a serious issue, especially with the Patriot Act that makes government torture legal, and the hate in the war on drugs is similar. I urge everyone to visit the ACLU website and check up on it, if you haven't already. I'm a firm believer that the anger and hate in the above situation is a precursor to what happens to people in prison, and has lots to do with how prisoners react to prison. How can we be expected to have any repect for authority, when this is the kind of authority we have? How can anyone respect someone who hates so much, and treats you like you don't deserve to breathe their air? What happened to "doing the right thing"? Do we even know what that is anymore?

I know that I personally have NO respect for that officer, or the chief criminal deputy who condoned that. People should be outraged, but instead, we are numb. This would have been a "hanging offense" in the past, and I fear that we will see more abuse of our children in the time ahead, if we will sit by and allow them to treat our kids to some of the same abuse that they have gotten away with doing to adults for so long now. Are we okay with that? Where do we draw the line between what is acceptable, and what is not? Maybe we're so numb that we can't even draw a line anymore. Sitting there, shaking your head, and saying "oh my, that's not good" will never make it stop happening. Perhaps we need to stop shaking our heads and put our foot down, and put an end to the war on drugs, the poor and women.


Sixpack6t9

[titantoo]

Take a look at

http://prisontalk.com/forums/showthr...56#post1406956

and the human rights report mentioned there and it is even more scary.

But what can we expect when we redefine torture to our convenience and do the same about ignoring international courts and the UN?

[witchlinblue]

You are so very right when you say redefine. Thank you for posting this, it is a real eye opener.