Torture in American Prisons
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United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals
UNITED STATES ARMY COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS Before TOZZI, COOK, and MAGGS1 Appellate Military Judges UNITED STATES, Appellee v. Private First Class LYNNDIE R. ENGLAND United States Army, Appellant ARMY 20051170 Headquarters, III Corps and Fort Hood James Pohl, Military Judge Colonel Clyde J. Tate, II, Staff Judge Advocate (pretrial) Colonel Mark Cremin, Staff Judge Advocate (post-trial) For Appellant: Major Timothy W. Thomas, JA (argued); Colonel Christopher J. O’Brien, JA; Captain Frank B. Ulmer, JA (on brief). For Appellee: Captain Nicole L. Fish, JA (argued); Colonel Denise R. Lind, JA; Lieutenant Colonel Mark H. Sydenham, JA; Major Christopher B. Burgess, JA; Captain Nicole L. Fish, JA (on brief). 10 September 2009 ---------------------------------- MEMORANDUM OPINION ---------------------------------- This opinion is issued as an unpublished opinion and, as such, does not serve as precedent. TOZZI, Senior Judge: An officer panel sitting as a general court-martial convicted appellant, contrary to her pleas, of one specification of conspiracy to commit maltreatment, four specifications of maltreatment, and one specification of indecent acts with another, in violation of Articles 81, 93, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 881, 893, and 934 [hereinafter UCMJ]. The convening authority approved the adjudged sentence of a dishonorable discharge, three years confinement, and reduction to Private E1. The convening authority also waived 1 Judge MAGGS took final action in this case while on active duty. ENGLAND – ARMY 20051170 automatic forfeitures and credited appellant with ten days of confinement credit against the approved sentence to confinement. On appeal, appellant claims, inter alia, that (1) the military judge abused his discretion when he rejected her guilty plea; (2) appellant’s trial defense counsel were ineffective for calling Private (PVT) Charles Graner as a presentencing witness, in the alternative; and (3) information about an Article 15, UCMJ, was erroneously included in the staff judge advocate’s recommendation (SJAR). -
Chalk and Cheese: Australian Vs. Norwegian Prisons
Chalk and Cheese Australian vs. Norwegian Prisons by Irina Dunn 1Published by Community Justice Coalition 2017 © Community Justice Coalition / Irina Dunn 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet such as engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The fact that this book is published online does not mean that any part of it can be reproduced without frst obtaining written permission: copyright laws do still apply. Inquiries should be directed to the author. First published by Community Justice Coalition in 2017 PO Box 386 Broadway Sydney NSW 2007 Australia Phone (02) 9283 0123 www.communityjusticecoalition.org National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Creator: Irina Dunn, author Title: Chalk & Cheese: Australian vs. Norwegian Prisons ISBN: 9780648140405 (ebook) Subjects: Criminal justice, Administrator of --Australia Criminal justice, Administration of --Great Britain Criminal justice, Administration of --Norway Criminal justice, Administration of --Netherlands Criminal justice, Administration of --Cross-Cultural-Studies Cover designed by Nick Freeman Breakout Media Communications Edited by Irina Dunn 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ -
Supermax Isolation
one Supermax Isolation Solitary confinement has been part of American correctional practice since the birth of the nation. Th e idea of isolating prisoners for their own good was supported in the fi nal years of the eighteenth century by such prominent fi gures as Benjamin Franklin and his friend Benjamin Rush, the pioneering psychiatrist. During that era, many Quakers viewed crime as a moral lapse and jail as a place where prisoners would be left by themselves in a cell and would be expected to search their souls about their errant ways and be “penitent” (thus the origin of the word penitentiary). But over the years, prison funding could not keep pace with a growing prison population, so this kind of solitary confi nement for the general population of prisoners was abandoned as too expensive to construct for or to maintain. Where solitary was retained, its original rehabilitative rationale was stripped away; it was now openly used merely as a dreaded punishment and deterrent within the prison and as a convenient means of separating out, for months, years, even decades, individuals whose inclusion in the general prison population might pose problems for prison management. the long history of solitary confinement in the united states Th e fi rst correctional facility in the nation to consign prisoners to single cells was the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia. It was originally built in 1773 to handle the overfl ow of prisoners from the nearby, massively overcrowded High Street Jail. Th ere were simply too many debtors, paupers, prostitutes, thieves, and ex- slaves going to jail for the jailers to fi nd the space to house them. -
Prison Privatization in the United States: a New Strategy for Racial Control
PRISON PRIVATIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES: A NEW STRATEGY FOR RACIAL CONTROL by Gertrudis Mercadal A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida August 2014 Copyright by Gertrudis Mercadal 2014 ii PRISON PRIVATIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES: A NEW STRATEGY FOR RACIAL CONTROL by Gertrudis Mercadal This dissertation was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s dissertation advisor, Dr. Farshad Araghi, Department of Sociology, and has been approved by the members of her supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: ______________________________ Farshad Araghi, Ph.D. Dissertation Advisor ______________________________ Susan Love Brown, Ph.D. _____________________________ Simon Glynn, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Michael J. Horswell, Ph.D. Director, Comparative Studies Program ___________________________________ Heather Coltman, DMA Dean, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters ___________________________________ __________________ Deborah L. Floyd, Ed.D. Date Interim Dean, Graduate College iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express her sincere love and gratitude to her husband, André Sabbagh, and her mother, Lucy Cottone Palencia, for their encouragement and patience during the writing of this manuscript. The author also wishes to thank the members of her advisory committee for their valuable time and advice during the development of this work, most especially Dr. Farshad Araghi for his insightful guidance and thoughtful mentorship during the years of research and writing of this dissertation. -
The Abu Ghraib Scandal: Visual Performances of American Power
THE ABU GHRAIB SCANDAL: VISUAL PERFORMANCES OF AMERICAN POWER by CARISSA CHAN B.A., University of Alberta, 2001 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Sociology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA July 2006 © Carissa Chan, 2006 ABSTRACT On April 28, 2004, disturbing photographs capturing the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers were aired on the CBS news program "60 Minutes II" (Levi Strauss, 2004: 87). The photographs depicted events that took place in October 2003 at the Abu Ghraib prison outside of Baghdad, Iraq. The presentation and preservation of the acts on fdm served as a "public ritual of mortification and a visual marker of humiliation" (Giroux, 2004: 790) of the detainees by the American military. This analysis supplements the wealth of information on the transmission of ideologies through discourse with a focus on visual representation, specifically with regards to the Abu Ghraib scandal, but also in the broader context of the war on Iraq. The American state, military and media were complicit in the production and circulation of the myth of freedom and democracy in order to garner and preserve public support for the war. I explore how the ideological justifications leading up to the war were depicted through particular details in the photos and how these became subject to later debate and discussion in the aftermath of world-wide circulation. According to court testimonies of the soldiers, the images were circulated around the Abu Ghraib prison to function as sources of psychological humiliation and intimidation. -
The Torture Memos: the Conflict Between a Shift in U.S
Hofstra Law Review Volume 33 | Issue 3 Article 6 2005 The orT ture Memos: The onflicC t Between a Shift in U.S. Policy Towards a Condemnation of Human Rights and International Prohibitions Against the Use of Torture Jonathan Canfield Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Canfield, Jonathan (2005) "The orT ture Memos: The onflC ict Between a Shift in .SU . Policy Towards a Condemnation of Human Rights and International Prohibitions Against the Use of Torture," Hofstra Law Review: Vol. 33: Iss. 3, Article 6. Available at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr/vol33/iss3/6 This document is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hofstra Law Review by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Canfield: The Torture Memos: The Conflict Between a Shift in U.S. Policy To NOTE THE TORTURE MEMOS: THE CONFLICT BETWEEN A SHIFT IN U.S. POLICY TOWARDS A CONDEMNATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL PROHIBITIONS AGAINST THE USE OF TORTURE [In the United States, the use of torture] is categorically denounced as a matter ofpolicy and as a tool of state authority.... No official of the government,federal, state or local, civilian or military, is authorized to commit or to instruct anyone else to commit torture. Nor may any official condone or tolerate torture in any form.... No exceptional circumstances may be invoked as a justification of torture. -
Standard Operating Procedure
Presents STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE A film by Errol Morris (117 mins, USA, 2008) Distribution Publicity Bonne Smith 1028 Queen Street West Star PR Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1H6 Tel: 416-488-4436 Tel: 416-516-9775 Fax: 416-516-0651 Fax: 416-488-8438 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] www.mongrelmedia.com High res stills may be downloaded from http://www.mongrelmedia.com/press.html 2 STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE Sony Pictures Classics and Participant Productions Present An Errol Morris Film Music by Danny Elfman, Production Designer, Steve Hardie, Edited by Andy Grieve, Steven Hathaway, and Dan Mooney Directors of Photography, Robert Chappell & Robert Richardson, ASC Executive Producers, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Martin Levin, Julia Sheehan, and Robert Fernandez Produced by Julie Bilson Ahlberg Produced & Directed by Errol Morris 3 STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE Director’s Statement Is it possible for a photograph to change the world? Photographs taken by soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison changed the war in Iraq and changed America’s image of itself. Yet, a central mystery remains. Did the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few “bad apples”? We set out to examine the context of these photographs. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? We talked directly to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs. Who are these people? What were they thinking? Over two years of investigation, we amassed a million and a half words of interview transcript, thousands of pages of unredacted reports, and hundreds of photographs. -
Brumaria14.Maketa OK
122 Graham Coulter-Smith • Imaging the Unspeakable: Reflections on Art in the Age of Terrorism of worship, love, and devotion to night prayers.” An American voiceover (no doubt provid- “Whoever has succumbed to torture can no longer feel at home in the world” ed on the DVD for export purposes) tells us that an atmosphere of “patient brotherliness and Jean Amery faith filled the martyrs’ house in Kandahar.” And we see footage of the men helping each “At the extreme limit of pain, nothing remains but the conditions of time and space” other read and understand the aircraft manuals, making heroic and collaborative efforts, as Hölderlin the voiceover informs us, “to master the language and technology of the infidel.” And the images of the departed martyrs superimposed onto the rolling sand dunes “The calamity of the rightless is not that they are deprived of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- of Afghanistan reminded one of the visual device of the ghosts of the British navy com- ness, or of equality before the law and freedom of opinion—formulas which were designed to solve mandos marching forward as the credits roll at the end of the WWII movie Cockleshell He- problems within given communities—but that they no longer belong to any community whatsoever” roes, 1955. The claims made for the nineteen martyrs’ actions are grandiose: they are, for Hannah Arendt example, the “destroyers of the American spirit.” Quite the reverse, American neo-conserv- atives used 9/11 to revive American morale which had flagged substantially after the deba- cle in Vietnam. -
The Rise (And Fall?) of Supermax Prisons How Did We Get from Here… to There?
The Rise (and Fall?) of Supermax Prisons How did we get from here… to there? Common effects of prolonged solitary confinement • Affective disorders such as anxiety, paranoia, uncontrollable rage, and depression • Cognitive disorders such as confusion, inability to focus, oversensitivity to stimuli, obsessive rumination, and memory loss • Perceptual disorders such as visual and acoustic hallucinations • Physical disorders such as headaches, lethargy, insomnia, digestive problems, heart palpitations, fainting spells, and bodily aches and pains • In extreme cases, psychotic breakdown, self- mutilation, and suicide Dr. Stuart Grassian’s interviews at Walpole Penitentiary, 1983 Melting, everything in the cell starts moving; everything gets darker, you feel you are losing your vision. I seem to see movements – real fast motions in front of me. Then seems like they’re doing things behind your back – can’t quite see them. Did someone just hit me? I dwell on it for hours. I can’t concentrate, can’t read… Your mind’s narcotized... sometimes can’t grasp words in my mind that I know. Get stuck, have to think of another word. Memory is going. You feel you are losing something you might not get back. How did we get to this point? • Cold War sensory deprivation research • Repressive state reactions to the political resistance of prisoners • Reluctance of the courts to condemn solitary confinement as “cruel and unusual punishment” Cold War Sensory Deprivation Research Donald Hebb’s lab, 1956 After 6 days of sensory deprivation: “The whole room is undulating, swirling. You were going all over the fool place at first. The floor is still doing it. -
Imprisonment of Women: Why Orange Should Not Be the New Black
MITIGATING THE CRIME THAT IS THE OVER- IMPRISONMENT OF WOMEN: WHY ORANGE SHOULD NOT BE THE NEW BLACK Professor Mirko Bagaric* & Brienna Bagaric** INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 538 I. FEMALE OFFENDING PATTERNS AND INCARCERATION TRENDS: WOMEN COMMIT MUCH LESS CRIME AND EVEN LESS SERIOUS CRIME, YET THEIR INCARCERATION RATE IS INCREASING ....................................................................................... 545 A. The Situation in the United States ................................................... 545 B. Similar Female Offending and Incarceration Patterns in Australia ...................................................................................... 547 C. Interlude—Speculation as to Why Women Commit Less Crime and Why Even Serious Crimes Females Commit Are Not as Bad .................................................................. 549 II. FOUR REASONS FOR SENTENCING WOMEN LESS HARSHLY ................ 555 A. Mitigation in Sentencing ................................................................. 555 B. Women Reoffend Less Frequently—Better Prospects of Rehabilitation .................................................................................. 559 C. Women Suffer More as a Result of Prison than Men ...................... 563 D. Other People Are Harmed More When Females Are Imprisoned ....................................................................................... 570 E. Women Offenders Are Often the Victims of Child Sexual Abuse -
Prosecuting Abuses of Detainees in U.S. Counter- Terrorism Operations
International Center for Transitional Justice CRIMINAL JUSTICE FOR CRIMINAL POLICY: Prosecuting Abuses of Detainees in U.S. Counter- terrorism Operations An ICTJ Policy Paper November 2009 Carolyn Patty Blum, Lisa Magarrell, Marieke Wierda Cover Image: Redacted page (52) from Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities (September 2001-October 2003), a May 2004 Special Review by the CIA’s Office of the Inspector General. Portions of that report have been declassified through litigation by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations under the Freedom of Information Act. The Bush administration released a few paragraphs and lines of the report in May 2008 and the Obama administration went considerably further in an August 2009 reclassification. Regardless, this page and many others, including all of the In- spector General’s recommendations, remain classified as of this writing. Ques- tions persist about the full scope of abuses under U.S. policies on rendition, de- tention and interrogation. ICTJ’s policy paper relies on declassified information and other reporting to make the case for a thorough criminal investigation of abuses in counterterrorism policy and operations. Such an investigation must include those parts of the “dark side” still hidden from public view. CRIMINAL JUSTICE FOR CRIMINAL POLICY: Prosecuting Abuses of Detainees in U.S. Counter- terrorism Operations November 2009 An ICTJ Policy Paper Carolyn Patty Blum, Lisa Magarrell, Marieke Wierda International Center for Transitional Justice ICTJ New York 5 Hanover Square, 24th Floor New York, NY 10004 Tel + 1 917 637 3800 Fax + 1 917 637 3900 About ICTJ About the U.S. Accountability Project The International Center for Transitional Justice works The U.S. -
Prison Labor and the Economic Dimension of Employment Relationships
Vanderbilt Law Review Volume 61 Issue 3 Issue 3 - April 2008 Article 3 4-2008 Working at the Boundaries of Markets: Prison Labor and the Economic Dimension of Employment Relationships Noah D. Zatz Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr Part of the Labor and Employment Law Commons Recommended Citation Noah D. Zatz, Working at the Boundaries of Markets: Prison Labor and the Economic Dimension of Employment Relationships, 61 Vanderbilt Law Review 857 (2008) Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol61/iss3/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Law Review by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Working at the Boundaries of Markets: Prison Labor and the Economic Dimension of Employment Relationships Noah D. Zatz* IN TRODU CTION ............................................................................... 859 I. PRISON LABOR AND CONVENTIONAL EMPLOYMENT LAW A N A LY SIS ............................................................................. 867 A. The Basic Contours of Contemporary P rison L abor ............................................................ 868 B. Prison Labor and the Control Dimension of Employment ....................................... 871 C. Prison Labor and Statutory Exclusions .................. 875 D. Moving Beyond Control and Exclusions.................. 879 II. EMPLOYMENT'S