America's Abu Ghraibs

May 31, 2004

By BOB HERBERT

Most Americans were shocked by the sadistic treatment of

Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison. But we shouldn't

have been. Not only are inmates at prisons in the U.S. frequently
subjected
to similarly grotesque treatment, but Congress passed a law in 1996 to
ensure that in most cases they were barred from receiving any financial
compensation for the abuse.

We routinely treat prisoners in the United States like

animals. We brutalize and degrade them, both men and women.

And we have a lousy record when it comes to protecting well-behaved,
weak
and mentally ill prisoners from the predators surrounding them.

Very few Americans have raised their voices in opposition

to our shameful prison policies. And I'm convinced that's primarily
because
the inmates are viewed as less than human.

Stephen Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights,
represented several prisoners in Georgia who sought compensation in the
late-1990's for treatment that was remarkably similar to the abuses at
Abu
Ghraib. An undertaker named Wayne Garner was in charge of the prison
system
at the time, having been appointed in 1995 by the governor, Zell
Miller, who
is now a U.S. senator.

Mr. Garner considered himself a tough guy. In a federal

lawsuit brought on behalf of the prisoners by the center,

he was quoted as saying that while there were some inmates

who "truly want to do better . . . there's another 30 to 35

per cent that ain't fit to kill. And I'm going to be there

to accommodate them."

On Oct. 23, 1996, officers from the Tactical Squad of the Georgia
Department
of Corrections raided the inmates' living quarters at Dooly State
Prison, a
medium-security facility in Unadilla, Ga. This was part of a series of
brutal shakedowns at prisons around the state that were designed to
show the
prisoners that a new and tougher regime was in charge.

What followed, according to the lawsuit, was simply sick. Officers
opened
cell doors and ordered the inmates, all males, to run outside and
strip.
With female prison staff members looking on, and at times laughing,
several
inmates were subjected to extensive and wholly unnecessary body cavity
searches. The inmates were ordered to lift their genitals, to squat, to
bend
over and display themselves, etc.

One inmate who was suspected of being gay was told that if

he ever said anything about the way he was being treated,

he would be locked up and beaten until he wouldn't "want to

be gay anymore." An officer who was staring at another

naked inmate said, "I bet you can tap dance." The inmate

was forced to dance, and then had his body cavities

searched.

An inmate in a dormitory identified as J-2 was slapped in

the face and ordered to bend over and show himself to his cellmate. The
raiding party apparently found that to be hilarious.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Garner himself, the commissioner of the

Department of Corrections, was present at the Dooly Prison raid.

None of the prisoners named in the lawsuit were accused of

any improper behavior during the course of the raid. The suit

charged that the inmates' constitutional rights had been violated

and sought compensation for the pain, suffering, humiliation and

degradation they had been subjected to.

Fat chance.

The Prison Litigation Reform Act, designed in part to limit "frivolous"
lawsuits by inmates, was passed by Congress and signed into law by Bill
Clinton in 1996. It specifically prohibits the awarding of financial
compensation to prisoners "for mental or emotional injury while in
custody
without a prior showing of physical injury."

Without any evidence that they had been seriously physically

harmed, the inmates in the Georgia case were out of luck.

The courts ruled against them.

This is the policy of the United States of America.

Said Mr. Bright: "Today we are talking about compensating prisoners in
Iraq
for degrading treatment, as of course we should. But we do not allow
compensation for prisoners in the United States who suffer the same
kind of
degradation and humiliation."

The message with regard to the treatment of prisoners in the U.S.

has been clear for years: Treat them any way you'd like. They're

just animals.

The treatment of the detainees in Iraq was far from an aberration.

They, too, were treated like animals, which was simply a logical

extension of the way we treat prisoners here at home.

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Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company