AP Enterprise: Video shows private Idaho prison guards watching inmate attack - The Denver Post
AP Enterprise: Video shows private Idaho prison guards watching inmate attack - The Denver Post
BOISE, IDAHO — The surveillance video from the overhead cameras shows Hanni Elabed being beaten by a fellow inmate in an Idaho 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.
Videos of the attack obtained by The Associated Press show officers watching the beating for several minutes. The footage is a key piece of evidence for critics who claim the privately run Idaho Correctional Center uses inmate-on-inmate violence to force prisoners to snitch on their cellmates
or risk being moved to extremely violent units. On Tuesday, hours after the AP published the video, the top federal prosecutor in Idaho told the AP that the FBI has launched a civil rights investigation of the staff at the prison, which is run by the Corrections Corporation of America.
The investigation covers multiple assaults between inmates, including the attack on Elabed, U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson said.
A message left by the AP seeking CCA's reaction to the FBI probe was not immediately returned.
Lawsuits from inmates contend the company 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 AP initially sought a copy of the videos from state court, but Idaho 4th District Judge Patrick Owen denied that request. The AP decided to publish the videos after a person familiar with the case verified their authenticity.
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, the nation's largest private prison company, said it was "highly disappointed and deeply concerned" over AP's decision to release the videos.
"Public release of the video poses an unnecessary security risk to our staff, the inmates entrusted to our care, and ultimately to the public," the prison company said in a statement.
Read more: AP Enterprise: Video shows private Idaho prison guards watching inmate attack - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_16744270#ixzz16ouFBAbk
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No one steps into the cellblock when the attacker sits down to rest, and no one stops him when he resumes the beating.
Videos of the attack obtained by The Associated Press show officers watching the beating for several minutes. The footage is a key piece of evidence for critics who claim the privately run Idaho Correctional Center uses inmate-on-inmate violence to force prisoners to snitch on their cellmates
Former inmate Hanni Elabed is shown during an interview with The Associated Press in Boise, Idaho. Elabed suffered brain damage and persistent short-term memory loss after he was beaten by another inmate while multiple guards watched at the Idaho prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America. (AP | Jessie L. Bonner)
The investigation covers multiple assaults between inmates, including the attack on Elabed, U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson said.
A message left by the AP seeking CCA's reaction to the FBI probe was not immediately returned.
Lawsuits from inmates contend the company 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 AP initially sought a copy of the videos from state court, but Idaho 4th District Judge Patrick Owen denied that request. The AP decided to publish the videos after a person familiar with the case verified their authenticity.
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, the nation's largest private prison company, said it was "highly disappointed and deeply concerned" over AP's decision to release the videos.
"Public release of the video poses an unnecessary security risk to our staff, the inmates entrusted to our care, and ultimately to the public," the prison company said in a statement.
Read more: AP Enterprise: Video shows private Idaho prison guards watching inmate attack - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_16744270#ixzz16ouFBAbk
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
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6:40 PM
1 comment:
I am not surprised to read that the CCA guards stood by and watched one inmate beat another.
My son was at Crowley County Prison, a private prison in Colorado which is run by CCA, a couple of years ago. The guards were horrible! They made up charges and put him in solitary for 10 days for a trumped-up charge. They did not follow the DOC regs concerning the write-up. When challenged with a copy of the DOC regulation, the guards added more charges. The message was: "Do not mess with us. We will screw you at every opportunity and we will win. The hell with the DOC regulations. They said they could interpret the regs any way they wanted to."
You know what is worse? He would rather be there than at a DOC run facility. Those guards are animals! They abuse the inmates verbally and physically. The inmates don't dare complain because the guards will retaliate and conditions will become unbearable -- if the inmate survives!
Make a complaint to the Inspector General? Ha! What a joke. There's no follow-up investigation -- there is only protection of the DOC.
No name -- for fear of retribution!
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