Cover
story Use
of electro-shock devices increases
By CLAIRE
SCHAEFFER-DUFFY Special to the National Catholic
Reporter
The remote electronically activated
control technology (REACT) belt, also known as the stun belt, is among a
growing array of electro-shock devices currently being used on American
prisoners.
Strapped around the inmates waist, the belt delivers an
8-second 50,000-volt charge through electrodes placed near the kidneys,
triggered by remote control that can be as far as 300 feet away. The shock can
cause involuntary defecation and urination. In the words of one police officer,
who submitted to a trial run of the belt, the shock felt as if someone, with
nine inch nails tried to rip my sides out.
Amnesty International is calling for a ban on the belt and has
highlighted its hazards in a 1998 report on U.S. violations of human rights.
Even when not activated, the report argues, the belt is
inherently cruel, inhuman and degrading.
Manufactured by Stun Tech, Inc. of Cleveland and Nova Products of
Cookeville, Tenn., a belt costs between $700 and $800. It is put on inmates
perceived to be a security risk during trial or transportation to court or
hospitals.
Amnesty reports that 20 state correctional systems, local
jurisdictions in 30 states, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals
Service have authorized use of the belt. It is outlawed in some jurisdictions
including Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey.
In its promotional literature, Stun Tech lauds the deterrent value
of its product: After all, if you were wearing a contraption around your
waist that by the mere push of a button in someone elses hand could make
you defecate or urinate yourself, what would that do to you from a
psychological standpoint? Nova, a competitor of Stun Tech, touts the
take-down quality of its electro-shock weapons. Most of the
products out on the market, the companys Web site claims, will not
take a person down.
Nova products are superior because they will take a
person down.
But Amnesty says, It is both a myth and misleading to argue
that the stun belt is required to prevent prisoners from escaping and to
prevent attacks. Outbreaks of prisoners during transport are a rare
problem, and the traditional methods of restraint, including handcuffs,
are more than adequate for meeting the security needs of correction
officials transporting violent inmates, Amnesty said.
Amnestys report cited several heinous examples of the
belts use: On Ronnie Hawkins in a California courtroom, after his trial
judge became irritated by Hawkins loud interruptions. On a nonaggressive
defendant at a capital trial in Las Vegas, Nev., an officer leaned across a
desk and inadvertently set off the remote control switch. The electro-shock
sent the defendant sprawling to the floor and caused him to shake
uncontrollably. The belt was also used on a mentally ill defendant in a
Florida courtroom. His lawyers had tried to argue that he was mentally
incompetent to stand trial.
Jamie Fellner, an attorney for Human Rights Watch, reports that 10
inmates from Wallens Ridge State Prison, a high security facility in Virginia,
were required to wear the belts while she interviewed them. Fellner was
investigating inmate allegations concerning the excessive use of firearms by
prison personnel, and she found the belts extremely intimidating. I was
so nervous something would happen. What if they sneeze or move?
The guard had told the inmates that if they stood up or made
any moves when they were not told to, they would be stunned, she said.
According to Fellner, the prisoners were required to wear the belts for the
duration of the interview, even though they were already handcuffed and
shackled.
Amnesty is calling for a suspension of all stun technology -- stun
guns, stun belts, stun shields -- until the technology is medically evaluated
and proven to be medically safe. Electro-shock devices are dangerous, Amnesty
contends, because electrical impulses travel through the nervous system, the
path of least resistance, and go directly to the heart and brain.
National Catholic Reporter, December 8,
2000
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