A federal judge ordered more surveillance and remedial measures after finding that California’s prisons continue to violate disabled inmates’ civil rights.
In this July 9, 2020, file photo, a correctional officer checks a car entering the main gate of San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) Finding persistent, targeted abuse of disabled inmates in California’s prison system, a federal judge on Thursday ordered prison officials to install surveillance cameras and require guards to wear body cameras at five state prisons.
Senior U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken also ordered the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop a policy to monitor and control how much pepper spray is used on disabled inmates and an electronic system to track incidents of misconduct.
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The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation promised to improve how it handles inmate reports of staff abuse and misconduct but delivered a bureaucratic mess instead. General population inmates walk in a line at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif., in 2016. State lawmakers Monday grilled prison officials on staff misconduct reporting failures. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
(CN) California prison officials sat before a panel of lawmakers in Sacramento two years ago and promised to overhaul the way prisons handle inmates’ complaints of staff misconduct.
They asked for, and got, $9.8 million to start a new staff investigative unit called the Allegation Inquiry Management Section (AIMS).
Family members of inmates incarcerated in the Utah Department of Corrections’ prison system hold candles and say a prayer following an Oct. 13 rally outside the Department of Corrections office in Draper, Utah. (Steve Griffin/The Deseret News via AP, File)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) One in every five state and federal prisoners in the United States has tested positive for the coronavirus, a rate more than four times as high as the general population. In some states, more than half of prisoners have been infected, according to data collected by The Associated Press and The Marshall Project.
As the pandemic enters its 10th month and as the first Americans begin to receive a long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine at least 275,000 prisoners have been infected, more than 1,700 have died and the spread of the virus behind bars shows no sign of slowing. New cases in prisons this week reached their highest level since testing began in the spring, far outstripping previous peaks in April and Aug