Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/USA.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the USA. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/united-states/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 15 May
2020] F3. IS THERE
PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR
AND INSURGENCIES? The increased
policy focus on reforming the criminal justice system in recent years has
coincided with a series of widely publicized incidents in which police
actions led to civilian deaths. Many of these prominent cases involved black
civilians, though Native Americans are reportedly killed by police at a
higher rate per capita than any other group. Only a small fraction of fatal
police shootings lead to criminal charges; when officers have been brought to
trial, the cases have typically ended in acquittals or sentences on reduced
charges. SLO
Tribune releases jail torture video, fails to credit earlier reporting Cal Coast News, 17
March 2018 calcoastnews.com/2018/03/slo-tribune-releases-jail-torture-video-fails-credit-earlier-reporting/ [accessed 25 March
2018] While held naked in
a filthy cell, Holland began punching himself in the face. His jailers
responded by strapping him naked in a restraint chair where he was left for more than 46
hours. During this time he was offered little food or water and never
permitted to use a bathroom. In the video,
guards watch as Holland struggles, and after he loses consciousness, they
enter the cell. In the video, guards are seen laughing while Holland is
dying. Snowden
laughs off CIA’s ‘mistaken’ destruction of secret torture report Russia Today - RT
News Network, 20 May 2016 www.rt.com/usa/343765-snowden-cia-report-destroyed/ [accessed 9 August
2016] [accessed 9 August
2016] Following a recent
report that the CIA's internal inspectors destroyed their only copy of a top
secret 6,700-page report on torture, exiled NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden
was quick to point out the spy agency doesn’t do anything by mistake. The report was said
to have been destroyed by the CIA inspector general's office in an
“inadvertent” fashion. What was extremely peculiar was the fact that last
summer the officials had uploaded a copy onto a computer, then accidentally
deleted that. As if that wasn’t enough, they have now accidentally destroyed
the disk which contained the copy of the report. “I worked @CIA. I
wrote the Emergency Destruction Plan for Geneva,” Snowden told his millions
of global supporters over Twitter. “When the CIA destroys something, it's never
a mistake.” Detainee
alleges CIA sexual abuse, torture beyond Senate findings David Rohde,
Reuters, New York, 2 June 2015 www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/02/us-usa-torture-khan-idUSKBN0OI1TW20150602 [accessed 21 June
2015] Khan told his lawyers
that some of the worst torture occurred in a May 2003 interrogation session,
when guards stripped him naked, hung him from a wooden beam for three days
and provided him with water but no food. The only time he was removed from
the beam was on the afternoon of the first day, when interrogators shackled
him, placed a hood over his head and lowered him into a tub of ice water. An interrogator
then forced Khan's head underwater until he feared he would drown. The
questioner pulled Khan's head out of the water, demanded answers to questions
and again dunked his head underwater, the detainee said. Guards also poured
water and ice from a bucket onto Khan's mouth and nose. Khan was again hung
on the pole hooded and naked. Every two to three hours, interrogators hurled
ice water on his body and set up a fan to blow air on him, depriving him of
sleep, he said. The
Mysterious Death of Freddie Gray David A. Graham, The
Atlantic, Apr 22, 2015 www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-mysterious-death-of-freddie-gray/391119/ [accessed 3 May
2015] When the Baltimore
man was arrested, he was alive and well. By the time he reached a police
station, he couldn't breathe or talk. What happened? The police say Gray
didn't resist arrest and that officers didn't use force, which seems to be
mostly corroborated by video shot by bystanders. Gray seems to shout in pain,
and his leg seems injured as officers drag him to a police van. (Someone off
camera shouts, "His leg broke and y'all dragging him like that!")
Gray also had asthma and requested his inhaler, but didn't get it. Yet it's
not the leg or the asthma that killed him. Instead, it was a grave injury to
his spinal cord. Gray's family said he was treated for three fractured
vertebrae and a crushed voice box, the sorts of
injuries that doctors say are usually caused by serious car accidents. The
van made at least two stops before reaching the police station, but there's
no footage to say what happened during the journey or at those stops. Black
Lives Matter: Darrell Cannon and His Fellow Police Torture Survivors G. Flint Taylor,
Huffington Post, 10 February 2015 www.huffingtonpost.com/g-flint-taylor/black-lives-matter-darrel_b_6653096.html [accessed 29 March
2015] One of the
detectives took a shotgun, and, after appearing to put a shell in the
chamber, rammed the barrel into Cannon's mouth and pulled the trigger. The
detectives repeated this mock execution twice more, and Cannon experienced
the feeling that "the back of my brains were being blown out." When
Cannon persisted in denials, the detectives forced him into the back seat of
their car, pulled down his pants, and repeatedly shocked him on his genitals
with an electric cattle prod. The interrogation continued for several hours,
with another round of electric shocks, this time in Cannon's mouth, and the
racial abuse was so extreme that Cannon later recounted that he thought his
name was "nigger." Cannon finally
succumbed to the torture and gave a false confession that implicated him in
the murder. On the sole basis of that confession, Cannon was convicted and
sentenced to life. While in prison, he filed a pro se law suit seeking
damages, and in 1988, on the advice of an appointed lawyer, he reluctantly
accepted a $3000 settlement which netted him a grand total of $1247 after
costs and legal fees were deducted. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] USA The United States
has a vibrant civil society and strong constitutional protections for many basic
rights. Yet, particularly in the areas of criminal justice, immigration, and
national security, US laws and practices routinely
violate rights. Often, those least able to defend their rights in court or
through the political process—racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants,
children, the poor, and prisoners—are the people most likely to suffer
abuses. Committee Study of
the Central Intelligence Agmcy's Detention and
Interrogation Program U.S. Senate Select
Committee on Infelligence, Declassification Revisions
3 December 2014 i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/12/09/sscistudy1.pdf [accessed 10
December 2014] FINDINGS AND
CONCLUSIONS #3: The interrogations of CIA detainees were brutal and
far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others Beginning with the
CIA's first detainee, Abu Zubaydah, and continuing
with numerous others, the CIA applied its enhanced interrogation techniques
with significant repetition for days or weeks at a time. Interrogation
techniques such as slaps and "wallings"
(slamming detainees against a wall) were used in combination, frequently
concurrent with sleep deprivation and nudity. Records do not support CIA
representations that the CIA initially used an "an open, non-
threatening approach,"^ or that interrogations began with the
"least coercive technique possible"^ and escalated to more coercive
techniques only as necessary. The waterboarding
technique was physically harmful, inducing convulsions and vomiting. Abu Zubaydah, for example, became "completely
unresponsive, with bubbles rising through his open, full mouth.'"^
Internal CIA records describe the waterboarding of Khalid Shaykh
Mohammad as evolving into a "series of near drownings."^ Sleep
deprivation involved keeping detainees awake for up to 180 hours, usually
standing or in stress positions, at times with their hands shackled above
their heads. At least five detainees experienced disturbing hallucinations
during prolonged sleep deprivation and, in at least two of those cases, the
CIA nonetheless continued the sleep deprivation. Contrary to CIA
representations to the Department of Justice, the CIA instructed personnel that
the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah would take
"precedence" over his medical care,^ resulting in the deterioration
of a bullet wound Abu Zubaydah incurred during his
capture. In at least two other cases, the CIA used its enhanced interrogation
techniques despite warnings from CIA medical personnel that the techniques
could exacerbate physical injuries. CIA medical personnel treated at least one
detainee for swelling in order to allow the continued use of standing sleep
deprivation. At least five CIA
detainees were subjected to "rectal rehydration" or rectal feeding
without documented medical necessity. The CIA placed detainees in ice water
"baths." The CIA led several detainees to believe they would never
be allowed to leave CIA custody alive, suggesting to one detainee that he
would only leave in a coffin-shaped box.^ One interrogator told another
detainee that he would never go to court, because "we can never let the
world know what I have done to you."^ CIA officers also threatened at
least three detainees with harm to their families— to include threats to harm
the children of a detainee, threats to sexually abuse the mother of a
detainee, and a threat to "cut [a detainee's] mother's throat. #4: The conditions of confinement for CIA detainees
were harsher than the CIA had represented to policymakers and others Conditions at CIA
detention sites were poor, and were especially bleak early in the program.
CIA detainees at the COBALT detention facility were kept in complete darkness
and constantly shackled in isolated cells with loud noise or music and only a
bucket to use for human waste. Lack of
heat at the facility likely contributed to the death of a detainee. The chief
of interrogations described COBALT as a "dungeon."^^ Another seniorCIA officer stated that COBALT was itself an
enhanced interrogation technique.^' At times, the
detainees at COBALT were walked around naked or were shackled with their
hands above their heads for extended periods of time. Other times, the
detainees at COBALT were subjected to what was described as a "rough
takedown," in which approximately five CIA officers would scream at a
detainee, drag him outside of his cell, cut his clothes off, and secure him
with Mylar tape. The detainee would then be hooded and dragged up and down a
long corridor while being slapped and punched. Even after the
conditions of confinement improved with the construction of new detention
facilities, detainees were held in total isolation except when being
interrogated or debriefed by CIA personnel. Throughout the
program, multiple CIA detainees who were subjected to the CIA's enhanced
interrogation techniques and extended isolation exhibited psychological and
behavioral issues, including hallucinations, paranoia, insomnia, and attempts
at self-harm and self-mutilation. Multiple psychologists identified the lack
of human contact experienced by detainees as a cause of psychiatric problems Committee Study of
the Central Intelligence Agmcy's Detention and
Interrogation Program U.S. Senate Select
Committee on Infelligence, Declassification
Revisions 3 December 2014 i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/12/09/sscistudy1.pdf [accessed 10
December 2014] FINDINGS AND
CONCLUSIONS 1. The CIA's use of its enhanced
interrogation techniques was not an effective means of acquiring intelligence
or gaining cooperation from detainees 2. The CIA's justification for the use of
its enhanced interrogation techniques rested on inaccurate claims of their
effectiveness 3. The interrogations of CIA detainees were
brutal and far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others 4. The conditions of confinement for CIA
detainees were harsher than the CIA had represented to policymakers and
others 5. The CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate
information to the Department of Justice impeding a proper legal analysis of
the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program 6. The CIA has actively avoided or impeded
congressional oversight of the program 7. The CIA impeded effective White House
oversight and decision-making 8. The CIA's operation and management of the
program complicated, and in some cases impeded, the national security
missions of other Executive Branch agencies 9. The CIA impeded oversight by the CIA's
Office of Inspector General 10. The CIA
coordinated the release of classified information to the media, including
inaccurate information concerning the effectiveness of the CIA's enhanced
interrogation techniques 11. The CIA was
unprepared as it began operating its Detention and Interrogation Program more
than six months after being granted detention authorities 12. The CIA's
management and operation of its Detention and Interrogation Program was deeply
flawed throughout the program's duration, particularly so in 2002 and early
2003 13. Two contract
psychologists devised the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques and played
a central role in the operation, assessments, and management of the CIA's Detention
and Interrogation Program. By 2005, the CIA had overwhelmingly outsourced
operations related to the program 14. CIA detainees
were subjected to coercive interrogation techniques that had not been
approved by the Department of Justice or had not been authorized by CIA
Headquarters 15. The CIA did not
conduct a comprehensive or accurate accounting of the number of individuals
it detained, and held individuals who did not meet the legal standard for
detention. The CIA's cleams about the number of detainees
held and subjected to its enhanced interrogation techniques were inaccurate 16. The CIA failed
to adequately evaluate the effectiveness of its enhanced interrogation
techniques 17. The CIA rarely
reprimanded or held personnel accountable for serious and significant
violations, inappropriate activities, and systemic and individual management
failures 18. The CIA
marginalized and ignored numerous internal critiques, criticisms, and
objections concerning the operation and management of the CIA's Detention and
Interrogation Program 19. The CIA's
Detention and Interrogation Program was inherently unsustainable and had
effectively ended by 2006 due to unauthorized press disclosures, reduced
cooperation from other nations, and legal and oversight concerns 20. The CIA's
Detention and Interrogation Program damaged the United States' standing in
the world, and resulted in other significant monetary and non-monetary costs. UN Committee
against Torture’s Concluding Observations on Sweden, Ukraine, Venezuela,
Australia, Burundi, USA, Croatia and Kazakhstan Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights OHCHR, Geneva, 24 November 2014 www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15336&LangID=E [accessed 7 December
2014] The UN Committee
against Torture will be holding a news conference to discuss the concluding
observations of its 53rd session ... Among the issues discussed during the
session: USA: Extraterritorial
application of the Convention; inquiries into allegations of torture
overseas; Guantanamo Bay detention facilities, transfer of detainees and
reliance on diplomatic assurances; interrogation techniques; solitary
confinement; use of death penalty; sexual violence, including rape, in
prisons; excessive use of force by police, police brutality; sexual abuse in
the US military. Six inmates sue,
allege torture Peter Surowski, The Press-enterprise, San Bernardino County, 9
May 2014 blog.pe.com/breaking-news/2014/05/09/san-bernardino-county-six-inmates-sue-sheriff-say-deputies-tortured-them/ [accessed 13 May
2014] www.pe.com/2014/05/10/san-bernardino-county-six-inmates-sue-allege-torture-update/ [accessed 9 August
2017] Six inmates are
suing the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for a collective $630
million, saying deputies tortured them. The deputies sodomized
the inmates, used electric shockers on their genitals, deprived them of
sleep, held shotguns to their heads and stretched their arms in painful ways,
treatment that was ”willful, malicious, sadistic and designed to inflict pain
and suffering,” the suit states. Torture, Racism,
Drones & Unlawful Killings: UN Human Rights Committee Releases Report on
US Government Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter (a Firedoglake
blog), 27 March 2014 dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/03/27/torture-racism-drones-unlawful-killings-un-human-rights-committee-releases-report-on-us-government/ [accessed 30 March
2014] shadowproof.com/2014/03/27/torture-racism-drones-unlawful-killings-un-human-rights-committee-releases-report-on-us-government/ [accessed 9 August
2017] The United Nations
Human Rights Committee completed its review of the United States’ compliance
with a major human rights treaty. It takes issue with the government’s
interpretation that the treaty only applies to persons when they are inside
the country It is the Obama
administration’s position that the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, which the US is a signatory, does not impose any “human rights
obligations on American military and intelligence forces when they operate
abroad. Police Commander
Burge Loses Torture Lies Appeal Joseph Celentino, Courthouse News Service, Chicago, 3 April 2013 www.courthousenews.com/2013/04/03/56336.htm [accessed 4 April
2013] www.courthousenews.com/police-commander-burge-loses-torture-lies-appeal/ [accessed 9 August
2017] The 7th Circuit
upheld the conviction of a police commander who "presided over an
interrogation regime where suspects were suffocated with plastic bags,
electrocuted until they lost consciousness, held down against radiators, and
had loaded guns pointed at their heads during rounds of Russian
roulette." At trial, the jury
"heard overwhelming evidence" that Burge lied about the use of
torture. "The witnesses
described how they were suffocated with plastic bags, electrocuted with
homemade devices attached to their genitals, beaten, and had guns force into
their mouths during questioning," according to the 7th Circuit's new
ruling in the case. Other witnesses
stated that Burge had bragged about the beatings and "did not care if
those tortured were innocent or guilty because, as he saw it, every suspect
had surely committed some other offense anyway." Burge was found
guilty of all counts and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in federal prison. A unanimous
three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit affirmed Monday. America's Global
Torture Network Robert Scheer, Editor, Truthdig.com; The Huffington Post, 8 Feb
2013 www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/americas-global-torture-n_b_2642899.html [accessed 8 February
2013] www.truthdig.com/report/item/americas_global_torture_network_20130207?ln [accessed 31 August
2016] When it comes to
torture in the post 9/11 era, the record of the United States is so appalling
that one must question our claimed abhorrence of the barbarism of other
nations. In fact, the essence of our rendition program has been to outsource
torture to those countries most sadistic in their use of "enhanced
interrogation techniques." That is flattery of a most twisted sort. Globalizing
Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition Amrit Singh, Senior Legal
Officer for the Open Society Justice Initiative’s National Security and
Counterterrorism program ,Open Society Foundations, 2013 -- ISBN:
978-1-936133-75-8 www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/globalizing-torture-20120205.pdf [accessed 8 February
2013] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -- Following the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) commenced a secret detention program under which suspected terrorists
were held in CIA prisons, also known as “black sites,” outside the United
States, where they were subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques” that
involved torture and other abuse. At about the same time, the CIA gained
expansive authority to engage in “extraordinary rendition,” defined here as
the transfer— without legal process—of a detainee to the custody of a foreign
government for purposes of detention and interrogation.2 Both the secret
detention program and the extraordinary rendition program were highly
classified, conducted outside the United States, and designed to place
detainee interrogations beyond the reach of the law. Torture was a hallmark
of both. The two programs entailed the abduction and disappearance of
detainees and their extra-legal transfer on secret flights to undisclosed
locations around the world, followed by their incommunicado detention,
interrogation, torture, and abuse. Emanuel
Administration Earns Failing Grade on Police Torture and Code of Silence G. Flint Taylor,
Huffington Post, 4 Jan 2013 www.huffingtonpost.com/g-flint-taylor/rahm-emanuel-code-of-silence_b_2390280.html [accessed 5 January
2013] In their first full
year at the helm of the city, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his corporation
counsel have, to be kind, left much to be desired in the field of police
torture and misconduct, wasting tens of millions of dollars in the continued
unprincipled defense of convicted police torturer Jon Burge and his
confederates, the police code of silence, and detectives who framed an
innocent 13-year-old boy. This blatant
disrespect for the citizens of the city, particularly African-Americans, was
further demonstrated by the mayor's refusal to apologize to the victims of
police torture and their families, to join with Illinois Attorney General
Lisa Madigan in her fight to strip Burge of his police pension, and the
failure to make good on his promise that he would end the torture scandal by
fairly settling the remaining cases that torture survivors had brought
against the city. US:
Release Report that Addresses CIA Torture
Human Rights Watch,
Washington, DC, December 13, 2012 www.hrw.org/news/2012/12/13/us-release-report-addresses-cia-torture [accessed 5 January
2013] The United States
Senate intelligence committee’s long-awaited review of the Central
Intelligence Agency’s secret detention and interrogation program after
September 11, 2001, should promptly be declassified and released. On December
13, 2012, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence adopted the report,
which contains important information on the use and ineffectiveness of
torture. “The Senate report
is of monumental importance given the many uninformed claims that torture was
central to US intelligence successes,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director
of Human Rights Watch. “Only by making the facts public and understanding
past mistakes can policymakers ensure that such illegal and destructive
national security policies never happen again.” Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/USA/C/2
(2006) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/usa2006.html [accessed 12 March
2013] C. Principal
subjects of concern and recommendations 13. Notwithstanding
the statement by the State party that “every act of torture within the
meaning of the Convention is illegal under existing federal and/or state
law”, the Committee reiterates the concern expressed in its previous
Conclusions and Recommendations with regard to the absence of a federal crime
of torture, consistent with article 1 of the Convention, given that sections
2340 and 2340 A of the United States Code limit federal criminal jurisdiction
over acts of torture to extraterritorial cases. The Committee also regrets
that, despite the occurrence of cases of extraterritorial torture of
detainees, no prosecutions have been initiated under the extraterritorial
criminal torture statute. (articles 1, 2, 4 and 5) 14. The Committee
regrets the State party’s opinion that the Convention is not applicable in
times and in the context of armed conflict, on the basis of the argument that
the “law of armed conflict” is the exclusive lex specialis applicable, and that the Convention’s
application “would result in an overlap of the different treaties which would
undermine the objective of eradicating torture”. (articles 1 and 16) 15. The Committee
notes that a number of the Convention’s provisions are expressed as applying
to “territory under [the State party’s] jurisdiction” (articles 2, 5, 13,
16). The Committee reiterates its previously expressed view that this
includes all areas under the de facto effective control of the State party,
by whichever military or civil authorities such control is exercized. The Committee considers that the State party’s
view that those provisions are geographically limited to its own de jure
territory to be regrettable. 16. The Committee
notes with concern that the State party does not always register persons
detained in territories under its jurisdiction outside the United States,
depriving them of an effective safeguard against acts of torture (article 2) 17. The Committee
is concerned by allegations that the State party has established secret
detention facilities, which are not accessible to the International Committee
of the Red Cross. Detainees are deprived of fundamental legal safeguards,
including an oversight mechanism in regard to their treatment and review
procedures with respect to their detention. The Committee is also concerned
by allegations that those detained in such facilities could be held for
prolonged periods and face torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
The Committee considers the “no comment” policy of the State party regarding
the existence of such secret detention facilities, as well as on its
intelligence activities, to be regrettable. (articles 2 and 16) 18. The Committee
is concerned by reports of the involvement of the State party in enforced
disappearances. The Committee considers the State party’s view that such acts
do not constitute a form of torture to be regrettable. (articles 2 and 16) 19. Notwithstanding
the State party’s statement that “[u]nder U.S. law,
there is no derogation from the express statutory prohibition of torture” and
that “[n]o circumstances whatsoever (…) may be invoked as a justification or
defense to committing torture”, the Committee remains concerned at the
absence of clear legal provisions ensuring that the Convention’s prohibition
against torture is not derogated from under any circumstances, in particular
since 11 September 2001. (articles 2, 11 and 12) 20. The Committee
is concerned that the State party considers that the non-refoulement
obligation, under article 3 of the Convention, does not extend to a person
detained outside its territory. The Committee is also concerned by the State
party’s rendition of suspects, without any judicial procedure, to States
where they face a real risk of torture. (article 3) The State party should
apply the non-refoulement guarantee to all
detainees in its custody, cease the rendition of suspects, in particular by
its intelligence agencies, to States where they face a real risk of torture,
in order to comply with its obligations under article 3 of the Convention.
The State party should always ensure that suspects have the possibility to
challenge decisions of refoulement. 21. The Committee
is concerned by the State party’s use of “diplomatic assurances”, or other
kinds of guarantees, assuring that a person will not be tortured if expelled,
returned, transferred or extradited to another State. The Committee is also
concerned by the secrecy of such procedures including the absence of judicial
scrutiny and the lack of monitoring mechanisms put in place to assess if the
assurances have been honoured. (article 3) 22. The Committee,
noting that detaining persons indefinitely without charge, constitutes per se
a violation of the Convention, is concerned that detainees are held for
protracted periods at Guantánamo Bay, without sufficient legal safeguards and
without judicial assessment of the justification for their detention.
(articles 2, 3 and 16) 23. The Committee
is concerned that information, education and training provided to the State
party’s law enforcement or military personnel are not adequate and do not
focus on all provisions of the Convention, in particular on the non-derogable nature of the prohibition of torture and the
prevention of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. (articles
10 and 11) The State party should ensure that education and training of all
law enforcement or military personnel, are conducted on a regular basis, in
particular for personnel involved in the interrogation of suspects. This
should include training on interrogation rules, instructions and methods, and
specific training on how to identify signs of torture and cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment. Such personnel should also be instructed to report such
incidents. 24. The Committee
is concerned that in 2002 the State party authorized the use of certain
interrogation techniques, which have resulted in the death of some detainees
during interrogation. The Committee also regrets that “confusing
interrogation rules” and techniques defined in vague and general terms, such
as “stress positions”, have led to serious abuses of detainees. (articles 11,
1, 2 and 16) 25. The Committee
is concerned with allegations of impunity of some of the State party’s law
enforcement personnel in respect of acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment. The Committee notes the limited
investigation and lack of prosecution in respect of the allegations of
torture perpetrated in areas 2 and 3 of the Chicago Police Department.
(article 12) The State party should promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate
all allegations of acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment by law enforcement personnel and bring perpetrators to justice,
in order to fulfill its obligations under article 12 of the Convention. The
State party should also provide the Committee with information on the ongoing
investigations and prosecution relating to the above mentioned case. 26. The Committee
is concerned by reliable reports of acts of torture or cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment or punishment committed by certain members of the State
party’s military or civilian personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is also
concerned that the investigation and prosecution of many of these cases,
including some resulting in the death of detainees, have led to lenient
sentences, including of an administrative nature or less than one year’s
imprisonment. (article 12) The State party should take immediate measures to
eradicate all forms of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by its military
or civilian personnel, in any territory under its jurisdiction, and should
promptly and thoroughly investigate such acts and prosecute all those
responsible for such acts, and ensure they are appropriately punished, in
accordance with the seriousness of the crime. 27. The Committee
is concerned that the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 aims to withdraw the
jurisdiction of the State party’s federal courts with respect to habeas
corpus petitions, or other claims by or on behalf of Guantánamo Bay
detainees, except under limited circumstances. The Committee is also
concerned that detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq, under the control of the
Department of Defence, have their status determined
and reviewed by an administrative process of that Department. (article 13) 28. The Committee
is concerned by the difficulties certain victims of abuses have faced in
obtaining redress and adequate compensation, and that only a limited number
of detainees have filed claims for compensation for alleged abuse and
maltreatment, in particular under the Foreign Claims Act. (article 14) 29. The Committee
is concerned by section 1997 e (e) of the 1995 Prison Litigation Reform Act
which provides “that no federal civil action may be brought by a prisoner for
mental or emotional injury suffered while in custody without a prior showing
of physical injury.” (article 14) The State party should not limit the right
of victims to bring civil actions and amend the Prison Litigation Reform Act
accordingly. 30. The Committee,
while taking note of the State party’s instruction number 10 of 24 March 2006
which provides that military commissions shall not admit statements
established to be made as a result of torture in evidence, is concerned about
the implementation of the instruction in the context of such commissions and
the limitations on detainees’ effective right to complain. The Committee is
also concerned about the Combatant Status Review Tribunals and the
administrative Review Boards. (articles 13 and 15) 31. The Committee
is concerned by the fact that substantiated information indicates that
executions in the State party can be accompanied by severe pain and
suffering. (articles 16, 1 and 2) The State party should carefully review its
execution methods, in particular lethal injection in order to prevent severe
pain and suffering. 32. The Committee
is concerned by reliable reports of sexual assault of sentenced detainees, as
well as persons in pre-trial or immigration detention, in places of detention
in the State party. The Committee is concerned that there are numerous reports
of sexual violence perpetrated by detainees on each other, and that persons
of differing sexual orientation are particularly vulnerable. The Committee is
also concerned by the lack of prompt and independent investigation of such
acts and that appropriate measures to combat these abuses have not been
implemented by the State party. (articles 16, 12, 13 and 14) 33. The Committee
is concerned by the treatment of detained women in the State party, including
gender-based humiliation and incidents of shackling of women detainees during
childbirth. (article 16) 34. The Committee
reiterates the concern expressed in its previous recommendations about the
conditions of the detention of children, in particular the fact that they may
not be completely segregated from adults during pre-trail detention and after
sentencing. The Committee is also concerned by the large number of children
sentenced to life imprisonment in the State party. (article 16) 35. The Committee
remains concerned about the extensive use by the State party’s law
enforcement personnel of electro-shock devices which have caused in several
deaths. The Committee is concerned that this practice raises serious issues
of compatibility with article 16 of the Convention. (article 16) 36. The Committee
remains concerned about the extremely harsh regime imposed on detainees in “supermaximum prisons.” The Committee is concerned about
the prolonged isolation periods detainees are subjected to, the effect such
treatment has on their mental health, and that its purpose may be
retribution, in which case it would constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment. (article 16) 37. The Committee
is concerned about reports of brutality and use of excessive force by the
State party’s law enforcement personnel, and the numerous allegations of
their ill-treatment of vulnerable groups, in particular racial minorities,
migrants and persons of different sexual orientation which have not been
adequately investigated. (article 16 and 12) The State party should ensure
that reports of brutality and ill-treatment of members of vulnerable groups
by its law enforcement personnel are independently, promptly and thoroughly
investigated and that perpetrators are prosecuted and appropriately punished. 38. The Committee
strongly encourages the State party to invite the Special Rapporteur on
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in
full conformity with the terms of reference for fact-finding missions by
Special Procedures of the United Nations, to visit Guantánamo Bay and any
other detention facility under its effective de facto control. 39. The Committee
invites the State party to reconsider its express intention not to become
party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. 40. The Committee
reiterates its recommendation that the State party should consider
withdrawing its reservations, declarations and understandings lodged at the
time of ratification of the Convention. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 IMPUNITY The absence of
accountability for crimes under international law committed under the
administration of President George W. Bush in relation to the CIA’s programme of secret detention was further entrenched. On 30 August, the
US Attorney General announced the closure of criminal investigations into the
death of two individuals in US custody outside the USA. He stated that no one
would face criminal charges in relation to the deaths, believed to have
occurred in Afghanistan in 2002 and Iraq in 2003. This followed the
announcement in June 2011 that a “preliminary review” conducted into
interrogations in the CIA programme was at an end
and that, apart from in relation to the two deaths, further investigation was
not warranted. EXCESSIVE USE OF
FORCE At least 42 people
across 20 states died after being struck by police Tasers, bringing the total
number of such deaths since 2001 to 540. Tasers have been listed as a cause or
contributory factor in more than 60 deaths. Most of those who died after
being struck with a Taser were not armed and did not appear to pose a serious
threat when the Taser was deployed. In May the American
Heart Association published a report which presented the first scientific,
peer-reviewed evidence concluding that Tasers can cause cardiac arrest and
death. The study analyzed information including autopsy reports, medical
records and police data from eight cases in which individuals had lost consciousness
after being shocked with a Taser X26 weapon. On 20 June,
39-year-old Macadam Mason died outside his home in Thetford, Vermont, after
being struck with a Taser deployed by a state trooper. In September the New
Hampshire Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Macadam Mason had suffered
“sudden cardiac arrest due to the conducted electrical weapon discharge” ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/united-states [accessed 5 January
2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] During the
campaign, both Obama and McCain had distanced themselves from a number of the
more controversial counterterrorism policies initiated by President Bush
since the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. The two candidates
pledged to end interrogation policies that amounted to torture, and Obama
promised to shut down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where
hundreds of terrorism suspects were held. However, Obama was unclear on how
the remaining detainees—classified by the Bush administration as enemy
combatants—would be dealt with. As the Bush
administration neared its end, some human rights advocates and members of the
political opposition called for investigations into its activities. Some
argued that Bush officials should face criminal prosecution for their role in
formulating counterterrorism policy, while others favored congressional
probes or independent “truth commissions” to uncover the full extent of the
government’s activities without necessarily launching criminal cases. |
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Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof.
Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill
Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- - USA",
http://gvnet.com/torture/USA.htm, [accessed <date>] |