Americans Face Guantanamo-Like Torture Everyday in a Super-Max Prison Near You

To little public outcry, tens of thousands of citizens are being held in horrific conditions in super-harsh, super-maximum security, solitary-confinement prisons.
January 18, 2011 |


Editor's Note: Courageous WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning is reportedly suffering some of the same horrible experiences detailed in the article below, including 23 hours a day of solitary confinement, which has been labeled torture by numerous prison and psychological experts.

“They beat the shit out of you,” Mike James said, hunched near the smeared plexiglass separating us. He was talking about the cell “extractions” he’d endured at the hands of the supermax-unit guards at the Maine State Prison.

“They push you, knee you, poke you,” he said, his voice faint but ardent through the speaker. “They slam your head against the wall and drop you on the floor while you’re cuffed.” He lifted his manacled hands to a scar on his chin. “They split it wide open. They’re yelling ‘Stop resisting! Stop resisting!’ when you’re not even moving.”

When you meet Mike James you notice first his deep-set eyes and the many scars on his shaved head, including a deep, horizontal gash. He got that by scraping his head on the cell door slot, which guards use to pass in food trays.

Read on...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's probably fair to assume that he did something that caused him to be in maximum security. This makes me wonder if he showed his victim(s) any of the considerate treatment that he seems to be expecting.

Anonymous said...

An eye for an eye.

Anonymous said...

I don't really believe in "an eye for an eye". But, you will have to admit that the context and surrounding circumstances are missing in this and many of these stories.

Anonymous said...

Are you suggesting that there is a circumstance or context that would legitimize the torture of a prisoner in a supermax prison?