Friday, July 09, 2004
American Prisons show "American Values"
Anne Marie Cusac writes:
When I first saw the photo, taken at the Abu Ghraib prison, of a hooded and robed figure strung with electrical wiring, I thought of the Sacramento, California, city jail.et sickening cetera.
When I heard that dogs had been used to intimidate and bite at least one detainee at Abu Ghraib, I thought of the training video shown at the Brazoria County Detention Center in Texas.
When I learned that the male inmates at Abu Ghraib were forced to wear women's underwear, I thought of the Maricopa County jails in Phoenix, Arizona.
And when I saw the photos of the naked bodies restrained in grotesque and clearly uncomfortable positions, I thought of the Utah prison system.
Donald Rumsfeld said of the abuse when he visited Abu Ghraib on May 13, "It doesn't represent American values."
But the images from Iraq looked all too American to me. . . . Reporters and commentators keep asking, how could this happen? My question is, why are we surprised when many of these same practices are occurring at home? . . . photos of prison abuse in the United States have not received nearly the attention that the Abu Ghraib photos did . . .
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