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Theory |
Prisoner abuse is the mistreatment of persons while they are underarrest orincarcerated. Prisoner abuse can includephysical abuse,psychological abuse,sexual abuse,torture, or other acts such as refusal of essential medication, and it can be perpetuated by either fellow inmates or prison faculty.[1]
Abuse of prisoners can includephysical abuse, as well as psychological forms of harm includingverbal abuse,sleep deprivation,white noise, pointless/absurd orhumiliating instructions, recurrent exhaustiveinspections andshakedowns, arbitrarystrip searches, and denuding actions.[2]
Prisoners are sometimes intentionally housed with inmates known to have raped other prisoners, or protection from known rapists may be purposely withheld from the prisoners. These practices create a very high incidence ofrape in US prisons, which was the topic of the 2001 report No Escape fromHuman Rights Watch.[3][4]
The experience of forcedstrip searches can be experienced as a traumatic event similarly to that ofrape, especially when combined with habitualbody cavity searches. The prevalence ofCCTV in modern correctional facilities and the generally indiscreet nature of strip searches, often with a number ofprison guards observing, usually adds to the experienced humiliation. Strip searches are often arbitrarily used under various pretences, when the actual ambition is to assert control and predominance as well as to intimidate the subjected prison inmates.[5]
Torture of prisoners includes any act, whether physical or psychological, which is deliberately done to inflict sensations of pain upon a person under the actor's custody or physical control. This form of prisoner abuse is usually exerted to extract information, but also as means of intimidation, attrition or punishment.
"Enhanced interrogation" is a euphemism for U.S. torture methods implemented in thewar on terror purportedly needed to extract information from detainees. Examples include use ofstress positions,sleep deprivation,starvation,thirst, andsexual humiliation.[6]
During the early stages of theIraq War, members of theUnited States Army and theCentral Intelligence Agency committed a series ofhuman rights violations andwar crimes against detainees inAbu Ghraib prison inIraq. These abuses includedphysical abuse,sexual humiliation, physical and psychologicaltorture, andrape, as well as thekilling of Manadel al-Jamadi and the desecration of his body.[10][11][12][13] The abuses came to public attention with the publication of photographs byCBS News in April 2004, causing shock and outrage and receiving widespread condemnation within theUnited States and internationally.[14]
TheGeorge W. Bush administration stated that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were isolated incidents and not indicative of U.S. policy.[15][16]: 328 This was disputed by humanitarian organizations including theRed Cross,Amnesty International, andHuman Rights Watch, who claimed the abuses were part of a pattern of torture and brutal treatment at American overseas detention centers, including those in Iraq, inAfghanistan, and atGuantanamo Bay (GTMO).[16]: 328 After 36 prisoners were killed at Abu Ghraib in insurgent mortar attacks, the United States was further criticized for maintaining the facility in a combat zone.[17] TheInternational Committee of the Red Cross reported that most detainees at Abu Ghraib werecivilians with no links to armed groups.[18]
Documents known as theTorture Memos came to light a few years later. These documents, prepared by theUnited States Department of Justice in the months leading up to the2003 invasion of Iraq, authorized certain "enhanced interrogation techniques" (generally considered to involve torture) of foreign detainees. The memoranda also argued thatinternational humanitarian laws, such as theGeneva Conventions, did not apply to American interrogators overseas. Several subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, includingHamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), overturned Bush administration policy, ruling that the Geneva Conventions do apply.
In response to the events at Abu Ghraib, the United States Department of Defense removed 17 soldiers and officers from duty. Eleven soldiers were charged withdereliction of duty, maltreatment,aggravated assault andbattery. Between May 2004 and April 2006, these soldiers werecourt-martialed, convicted, sentenced tomilitary prison, anddishonorably discharged from service. Two soldiers, found to have perpetrated many of the worst offenses at the prison, SpecialistCharles Graner and PFCLynndie England, were subject to more severe charges and received harsher sentences. Graner was convicted of assault,battery, conspiracy, maltreatment of detainees, committing indecent acts and dereliction of duty; he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and loss of rank, pay, and benefits.[19] England was convicted ofconspiracy, maltreating detainees, and committing an indecent act and sentenced to three years in prison.[20]Brigadier GeneralJanis Karpinski, the commanding officer of all detention facilities in Iraq, was reprimanded and demoted to the rank ofcolonel. Several more military personnel accused of perpetrating or authorizing the measures, including many of higher rank, were not prosecuted. In 2004, PresidentGeorge W. Bush and Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld apologized for the Abu Ghraib abuses.
According to international laws, a State is liable to ensure prisoners'right to receive health care. Prison authorities are fully responsible to provide proper medical treatment to the detainees and ensure their well-being.[21]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, the overcrowded Jaw prison of Bahrain witnessed a majorCOVID-19 outbreak. Several prisoners were confirmed to be infected with the virus, while the authorities failed to facilitate them with proper preventive medical supplies, including face masks or hand sanitizers, and conducting regular screening tests. The authorities fell short of ensuring prisoners' rights to health and following the rules of treating prisoners. One of the main concerns had been the extensive population of the prison, which madesocial distancing impossible.[22] On 9 June 2021, an inmate of Jaw prison, Husain Barakat, died due to COVID-19 complications.[23] Even after the pandemic, Bahrain's Jaw prison remained controversial, where prisoners' rights of health continued to be violated. In June 2022,Amnesty International reported that Bahraini authorities failed to respond to the inmates suffering withtuberculosis. Prison authorities constantly disregarded the prisoners with symptoms and did not allow them to get tested for the airborne disease. Some of the prisoners were called back to the prison after they were confirmed of being infected in the hospital. One of the prisoners, Ahmed Jaber, was not sent to the hospital until he was semi-paralysed after being sick for 11 months.[24]
NBC News later quoted U.S. military officials as saying that the unreleased photographs showed American soldiers 'severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner, and "acting inappropriately with a dead body." The officials said there also was a videotape, apparently recorded by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys.'
The paper quoted Taguba as saying, 'These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency.' ... The actual quote in the Telegraph was accurate, Taguba said – but he was referring to the hundreds of images he reviewed as an investigator of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq
Taguba said that he saw "a video of a male American soldier in uniform sodomizing a female detainee"
The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology later ruled al-Jamadi's death a homicide, caused by 'blunt force injuries to the torso complicated by compromised respiration.'
After the pictures were published the Bush administration was quick to condemn the abuse and accuse the low ranking soldiers who featured in the pictures. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld described the abuse at Abu Ghraib as an isolated case and President Bush talked about: 'disgraceful conduct by a few American troops who dishonoured our country and disregarded our values.' The abuse however did not constitute isolated cases but represented further proof of a widespread pattern.
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