Report: 5 States Use Dogs Inside Prisons

[cal04]

Five U.S. state prison systems allow the use of trained attack dogs to control inmates, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued Wednesday.

The report, ``Cruel and Degrading: The use of dogs for cell extractions in U.S. prisons,'' says policies in Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, South Dakota and Utah allow guards to use ``aggressive, unmuzzled'' dogs to compel uncooperative inmates to leave their cells. It said dogs may be ordered to bite prisoners if they resist.

``The entire world has seen the photo of an Abu Ghraib detainee crouched in terror before a snarling dog, but the use of attack dogs against prisoners here in the U.S. has been a well-kept secret,'' said Jamie Fellner, U.S. director of Human Rights Watch. ``Longtime corrections professionals were appalled when we told them that guards in some states use dogs on prisoners.''

``Human Rights Watch knows of no other country in the world that authorizes the use of dogs to attack prisoners who will not voluntarily leave their cells,'' the report said.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6140557,00.html

[Holly_Hobby]

1. Serious question

Bear with me...

They are PRISONERS. Why do they HAVE to leave their cells if they don't want to? I don't get it.

This is a sickening story, BTW. But I'm not surprised.

[Laughing Mirror]

2. They have to leave their cells to go to the torture room

So they can be tortured in private. Hard choice to make when you got an Abu Ghraib dog biting at your privates.

[noonwitch]

3. Lots of reasons, if they are in genpop

They leave their cells for work assignments-cleaning the prison, kitchen duty, yard work, whatever their assignment is.

They leave their cells for count, which is a few times a day.

They leave their cells when the guards search their cells for contraband.

They leave their cells to go to GED classes, exercise periods in the yard, medical appointments, counseling sessions, AA/NA meetings and so forth.

If they are in some kind of special security situation, or in adminstrative confinement, they don't leave their cells at all.

[Holly_Hobby]

4. Thanks - makes sense and I'm dense :) n/t