The documents reveal charges that Special Forces beat, burned, and doused eight prisoners with cold water before sending them into freezing weather conditions. One of the eight prisoners, Jamal Naseer, died in U.S. custody in March 2003.
In late 2004, the military opened a criminal investigation into charges of torture at Gardez. Despite numerous witness statements describing the evidence of torture, the military’s investigation concluded that the charges were unsupported. It also concluded that Naseer’s death was the result of a “stomach ailment,” even though no autopsy had been conducted in his case. Documents uncovered today also refer to sodomy committed by prison guards; the victims’ identities are redacted.
http://www.aclu.org/and another
Just this week, the New York Times reported that although the United States has less than 5% of the world’s population, we have almost a quarter of its prisoners.In fact, 1 in every 100 American adults are behind bars and, as state budgets continue to shrink, conditions of confinement get worse every day. In California’s prisons, for example, a prisoner dies every 6 or 7 days as a result of inadequate medical care.
As time goes on and serious rights abuses mount and go unheard, the need to fix the PLRA becomes even more urgent. Congress held a hearing this week on the Prison Abuse Remedies Act (H.R. 4109). This important bill would bring some much needed and long overdue reform to the PLRA.
http://www.aclu.org/
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