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Oct. 2013
UN Accuses US of Torture
UN special rapporteur on
human rights - accuses US of torture
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The UN rapporteur
for human rights, Juan Mendes, has accused the US of carrying out a systematic
and prolonged campaign of torture against prisoners, mostly black, by holding
them for extended periods of time in solitary confinement. Mr Mendez says this clearly is a grave violation of human
rights and amounts to torture. He says he has asked the US government several times for
permission to inspect its jails, but this has thus far been denied. Mr Mendez noted, “… the
use of solitary confinement in the US penitentiary system goes far
beyond what is acceptable under international human rights law.” He stressed
that the
use of solitary confinement and its negative effects on inmates is widespread
throughout the US
penitentiary system.
More details at: Four
decades in solitary confinement…torture and UN
independent expert calls on US to ban,,,
Herman Wallace - kept in solitary confinement for 41 years
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His comments arose after the death
of Herman Wallace, who had been held in solitary confinement for the last 41
years, thought to be one of the longest periods of solitary confinement
known. Mr Wallace had been accused of murdering a
prison guard in Lousiana
State prison, also known as Angola,
during a riot, but had always maintained his innocence. Several appeals to
overturn his conviction had failed, despite doubts about the soundness of the
evidence used against him. He was kept in solitary confinement throughout his
detention, in a cell measuring just 6 feet by 9. He was a member of the Black
Panthers organization, a militant black political group that fought for equal
rights for blacks in the US
in the 1970s. The US
authorities cracked down hard on the group, and Mr
Wallace always maintained that he was framed by the authorities because of
his membership of the group. Finally, on Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013, a US
judge overturned his conviction and ordered his release. Suffering from terminal
cancer, he died three days later. Amnesty
International also has weighed in on the case. "No ruling
can erase the cruel, inhuman and degrading prison conditions he endured for
more than 41 years - confined alone to a tiny cell for 23 hours a day,"
the group's executive director, Steven Hawkins, said in a statement.
More details
at dying-inmate
Amnesty International statements at Amnesty
International welcomes release of Herman Wallace and Louisiana
must release dying prisoner
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