Graham Rayman, staff writer for the Village Voice, discusses the recently indicted Rikers Island guards who used inmates as enforcers, leading to the beating death of an inmate.
Make no mistake about it. This is torture!!!! The real world / 21st century kind. Next time you hear a politician exclaiming that "Americans don't torture", realize, as a citizen of a democracy that torture is an infection that has always existed in certain shadowy sectors of OUR criminal justice system. Expect to see more of this sort of thing now that those trained to "take the gloves off" in the war on terror percolate back into domestic law enforcement. Only the disinfecting actions of ciizens, people like Mr. Rayman and diligent oversight by those who manage corectional systems can thwart these barbaric practices. This should not be shrugged off.
This story about the gang members in Riker's is comparable to the Capos that Victor Frankl wrote about in his book Man's Search for Meaning. Frankl, was a prisoner in a German concentration camp where some prisoners were chosen by the SS to be enforcers or Capos. They often beat their fellow prisoners and were rewarded by the guards with food and cigarettes. Frankl says that these Capos were harder on the prisoners than the guards.
Marco, you need to be less cynical. What is disturbing here is that we have criminals and organized crime guarding the criminals.
Pataki and Guiliani allowed organized crime to take over as long as the workers did political work for them. I hope that governor Patterson would make an effort to clean up the jail so that we do not continue to strenghten gangs and organized crime by using these jails as training grounds for criminals.
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Comments [5]
Make no mistake about it.
This is torture!!!! The real world / 21st century kind. Next time you hear a politician exclaiming that "Americans don't torture", realize, as a citizen of a democracy that torture is an infection that has always existed in certain shadowy sectors of OUR criminal justice system. Expect to see more of this sort of thing now that those trained to "take the gloves off" in the war on terror percolate back into domestic law enforcement. Only the disinfecting actions of ciizens, people like Mr. Rayman and diligent oversight by those who manage corectional systems can thwart these barbaric practices. This should not be shrugged off.
This story about the gang members in Riker's is comparable to the Capos that Victor Frankl wrote about in his book Man's Search for Meaning.
Frankl, was a prisoner in a German concentration camp where some prisoners were chosen by the SS to be enforcers or Capos. They often beat their fellow prisoners and were rewarded by the guards with food and cigarettes.
Frankl says that these Capos were harder on the prisoners than the guards.
Marco, you need to be less cynical.
What is disturbing here is that we have criminals and organized crime guarding the criminals.
Pataki and Guiliani allowed organized crime to take over as long as the workers did political work for them. I hope that governor Patterson would make an effort to clean up the jail so that we do not continue to strenghten gangs and organized crime by using these jails as training grounds for criminals.
Good job, Graham. I'm glad someone is on this.
I'm surprised that Al Sharpton hasn't commented..or about the situation at King's County.
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