WEBVTT

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[music]

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Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and
photographs that shocked the world.

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Iraqi prisoners humiliated,
tortured by American guards.

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George bush said he was appalled,
this was not the American way.

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More American guards screaming abuse

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at naked prisoners. Crawl
motherfucker, crawl.

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But this is not Baghdad,
this is Brazoria in Texas.

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Many American states require
prison guards to video raids

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to prove this no excessive force. They\'re
searching the cell block for drugs.

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Get down, motherfucker.

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(inaudible) is saying that the guards are doing in the cells
are pulling people out and stiff, are strip searching them.

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Shut the fuck and more motherfucker.

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One of my clients, he has a broken ankle

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and he is really not able to
crawl so they\'re dragging him.

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(inaudible) let\'s go, let\'s go.

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And he zapped on his behind with
at taser or stungun or some sort.

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My whole body was just doing this,

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couldn\'t stop shaking.

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Some prison officers also
have electric cattle prods

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others have dogs.

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This happened nine years ago when
George Bush was the Governor of Texas.

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Two officers were sent to prison
themselves, most inmates won compensation

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including one man raped by
a guard in later incident.

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But then Brazoria was
forgotten until last year.

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I flipped on conversional hearings about Abu Ghraib and
here are these politicians saying, \"This is just wrong,

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this is just a violation of basic human
rights. And I thought, \"Well, what hypocrisy,

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cause they know we do it here every day.\"

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This is the shocking story of how America
treats prisoners in its own back yard.

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Youths pounded by guards,

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[music]

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inmates dyeing after being shackled,

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or beaten to a pulp,

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an ever growing death row in a hidden
world of astonishing violence.

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[music]

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[music]

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In Northern Florida is the well
named town of Stark, population,

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five and a half thousand. The local economy depends
on the five state prisons around the town.

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Most families have someone
working inside them.

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Prisoners are so clean
in maintaining the town.

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But out of site in the two
high security prisons

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most men are held in solitary confinement.

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We agreed with screaming,

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just unbelievable (inaudible)
of noise is extremely hot,

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it smells like a mixture
of sewage and urine.

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We live in nine by seven
cell that\'s painted white,

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I\'ve counted the bricks, okay, I\'ve count the sink
which (inaudible) is only one sink and one toilet.

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MITCH Scott spent nearly 30 years
inside for armed robbery and rape

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including several years in solitary.

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You have a lot of time to reflect, you
know, on everything and anything.

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The prisons department turned
down filling requests.

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Although the press office at Sterling Ivey
had given permission to film from the road.

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I\'m from channel 4, sterling Ivey
known all about this. Who is that?

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Even so there were difficulties every time.

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Because he said to me also that he\'d notify both
New River and FSP that we were gonna be here.

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He probably did, but not right here.

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But even though they\'re blocking access, stories
of ongoing abuse are still filtering out.

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One of the worst involves
inmates hideously burnt

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by chemical sprays.

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The department of corrections
has a comprehensive website.

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It lists every single prisoner
along with the offence

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and length of sentence.

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This is Sylvester Butler, a career
burglar serving eighty years.

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This photo was taken by his lawyer.

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Guards sprayed Butler in his cell with
pepper and tear gas for banging on the door.

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[music]

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Kurt Massi, doing 12 years for attempted
murder, the prison report says he was sprayed

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for swearing at staff.

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And Jeremiah Thomas, an armed robber
with long history of mental illness,

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for refusing his medication, sprayed
through the flap in the cell door.

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Nearly, two dozen men are now
suing the prison authorities.

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They usually use large fire extinguisher sized
canisters of pepper sprays that sticks to people skin.

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We\'ve had prisoners who have had
second degree chemical burns

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all over the body, causes extreme pain.

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Officers always try to
aim for people\'s faces

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and for peoples genitals.

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Chemical agents are an effective way to
control riots or subdue violent prisoners,

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but the lawyers claim pepper is
used maliciously and sadistically.

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(inaudible)they turn off the
ventilation fans and the units.

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We\'ve had prisoners who reports that cardboard
is shoved into the crack of the door

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to make that it\'s really air tight.

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These pictures came from the
prison authorities themselves.

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When one cell is sprayed the whole
wing can suffer, including staff.

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A prison doctor told of his experience.
He is anonymous otherwise he\'s be sacked.

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Gassing occurs certainly
two or three times a week.

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The security people say, \"Get off
the door, get off the window,

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I\'ve told you three times,
okay, I\'m gonna get gas.\"

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You\'re eyes begin to tear and
your nose begins to burn.

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It becomes a horrendous irritation

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where you\'re almost choking
in your own saliva.

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I think some of the security people are,
feel this is their job to punch these people

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and they\'re pretty vindicated.

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They sprayed down the wing, next to the wing
that I was on and it came through my window

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and gassed me. okay.

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And what was the effect on you?
Describe to me, what that was like?

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Burning, I couldn\'t get enough water,
I felt like my face was on fire.

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The reports of course, all
says we use one canister

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and we use three one second controlled bursts. And if you look at the
photographic evidence that we have of the burns that people receive,

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there\'s no way that you could do
that without gallons of this stuff.

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It\'s being used just to maintain
absolute terror in the prisoners.

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There\'s no other word in torture.

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The department of corrections wouldn\'t
answer any of the questions put to them.

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But there is a statement on their website.
It says, \"Chemical agents

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are only employed as an extreme
measure instead of force.\"

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But there is one serving officer,
he is prepared to speak out.

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KAREN JONES is one of the six guards, suing
the prison department for sexual harassment.

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She\'s been shunned and threatened by
colleagues but she\'s determined to go on

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and expose staff attitudes to prisoners.

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You\'re ass belongs to the Florida departments
of corrections. You will do what we say do,

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you will sleep, you will eat, you will go to
the bathroom, you\'ll take a shit, you are now

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property of the state of
Florida, don\'t forget that.

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Bad attitude mean some officers believe they can get away with
anything. From several insiders including the prison doctor,

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there are reports of
straight forward brutality.

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[sil.]

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I hear it from people over and over
the same sort of descriptions about

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just subtly being taken into the
bathroom or whatever and being beaten up

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by a particular correction officer.

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I saw where the two inmates

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were handcuffed and then one of them was brought
out and told to stand up against the wall,

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slapped, punched in the head,

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he turned around, his face on both sides,
because he turns face to hit the wall.

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It was red. His whole chest was
red, you know, and what can you do?

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If an inmate were to go and say,

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\"I just have my ribs broken, my nose is
broken,\" what happens, is it covered up?

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Basically, yes. How?

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How do they cover it up? Oh,
it\'s easy to cover it up.

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Um, covered up by falsified documents.
What do you do?

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Um, well,

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somebody else did it to them. They\'ll put another
inmate they could file admittance that he did it.

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Frank Valdes tried to expose that abuse.

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He was already a marked man. On death
roll for killing a prison guard,

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but then Frank Valdes began writing to local news
papers about life inside Florida State Prison.

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He gave guards and supervisors

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the reason to want to shut him up.

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He was standing up for the rights of other
prisoners who are being beaten on a daily basis.

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[music]

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A gang of guards stormed into Valdes\'s
Cell. One of them was later given immunity

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for testifying how each of his
colleagues laid into Frank Valdes.

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Describe how it was kept as best you can.

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As hard as somebody could.

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Would you ever see anyone kick that hard before. Not
that hard, no. What was he saying to the inmate?

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He was saying, \"How are you
gonna kill now, motherfucker.

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Who you gonna kill now?\"

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They beat him as bad as
a man could be beaten.

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They stomped on his back and
stomped on his front, breaking

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every rib but two in two different
directions. His ribs were like splinters.

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The guards returns to beat
Frank Valdes second time.

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He was eventually found dead in a cell.

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For once the press were invited in

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and told Valdes had hidden a
weapon and attacked the officers.

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I asked the lieutenant that is in the cell, \"What happened?\"
and she said to me, \"Karen if you\'ve ever seen a shark afraid,

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in a feeding frenzy, it
just got out of hand.

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What was the talk among officers?

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Oh, it was panic, it was chaotic, it was, \"Oh my God, what are
we gonna do?\" What are we gonna do to protect these guys. Why?

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Because

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we\'re the good guys.

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(inaudible) the cover up story,
were the reports false? Yes.

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Did everyone know that
the reports were false?

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Yes. If I knew he was gonna
die, I would have never.

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[sil.]

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I would have never done that.

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Initially four officers to trial for murdering Frank
Valdes. The case was heard in their home town, Stark.

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All rise please. We\'ll
start the court with…

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I knew we would lose. When I went up there

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and I saw that Chief of
the Jury, the head juror

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was an Ex-correctional officer,
I said, \"This is a laugh,

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I can\'t believe this is going on.\"

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Wanda knew Frank Valdes for years, but they
only got married after he was on death row

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and she was right about
the outcome of the trial.

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The guards were acquitted. Charges
against four more were then dropped.

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Jury members said later they
accepted Valdes was murdered,

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they just couldn\'t agree
precisely who\'d done it.

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You can\'t go out and kill someone and then walk
away from because you are a correctional officer

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and say, \"Well, he was no good.\" If
we just go around killing people

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because we think they are no
good that\'s like euthanasia.

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Valdes\'s family is now
suing the eight guards

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as well as the former warden James
Crosby, who\'s since been promoted.

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James Crosby is now in charge
of all Florida prisons.

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Twice he was asked for an
interview, he refused.

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The whole idea is to disgust the present system in general
now, we have (inaudible) perhaps one of the most…

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Despites the reluctance of
prison management to take part

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there was another way of hearing the views of those working
in prisons, by teaming up with the local radio station.

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(inaudible)? (inaudible) Mike. (inaudible) Mike, welcome
to the (inaudible) happy hour. What do you got for us?

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There are prisons as it is right
now, for being a burden society,

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getting pepper spray is the penalty
for whatever their (inaudible) is

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then I\'m up for it.

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Across America, the issue of prisoners right is not vote
winner, and definitely not in this corner of Florida,

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but it certainly got people ringing in.
Who\'s up, PC?

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Well, ladies first let\'s go with Heather. Heather, welcome
to the Jive time, happy hour, what do you got for us?

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Well, I work in them (inaudible) correctional
institution, it\'s a women\'s prison

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but I have seen uses of pepper spray sir,

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and in every case (inaudible)
of being injured ourselves.

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The latest figures show the use of
chemical sprays in Florida State Prison

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rose almost 90 percent in three years.

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This is the heavy duty
and of the penal system,

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but as you travel across America, you discover
there is systematic abuse at nearly every level.

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Get arrested in Phoenix, Arizona

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and you\'ll end up here, the county
jail run by sheriff\'s department,

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It\'s typical Friday night, full house.

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Without warning, two
prisoners start fighting.

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[sil.]

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The inmates are quickly buried
under a mountain of officers.

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This jail is run by the man who revels on
the title, America\'s toughest Sheriff.

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You should not be fighting, you
know, you should not be resistant.

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I\'m not gonna have my officers assaulted.

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When these inmates try to assault my
officers we use as much forces as necessary.

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That more than a dozen officers
to pull a man out of a cell,

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fling him on the floor,
jumping on top of him. Why?

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What difference whether you use one or 10?

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Does it make any difference, we\'re
gonna restrain that person.

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Another restrain method is the chair. Its intended to
stop prisoners like this woman who is brought in drunk,

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hurting themselves or anyone else.
She\'s shackled hands and feet

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and a mesh hood prevents her spitting.

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Hey, where are you from? We\'re from British
television in London. British? Hi. Take a picture.

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Why are you in the chair, they say, you\'re trying to cut yourself
with a handcuff? Oh look here, you could put that on the video too.

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They\'ll keep her in there and
do 15 minutes observations

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and keep her in there extended amount of six hours
and after the six hours she has to come out

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but anytime within that six period if the nurse claim
that she is safe or she will not hurt herself anymore,

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she can come out of the chair after that.

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I\'m thirsty, all I want is a cup of water. Okay, listen
to me, I can give you water. Take this thing off my head.

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Okay, I\'ll take this off. Why do (inaudible)
that? \'Cause I spit on the floor.

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[music]

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A few blocks from the jail
just beyond spitting distance,

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the American prison industry is
gathering for its winter conference.

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Over 300 manufacturers
are displaying products.

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Including several firms who make pepper
spray, it\'s used throughout America.

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This comes in two styles.
This is a horizontal,

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and there is another one that\'s vertical. This
one I would simply, If I were gonna use it,

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I\'ll put it on a sling, did
this way, pull the safety pin,

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and then we would spray out. It goes, a
distance is about 25 feet it gonna go out.

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But here\'s pepper spray
used at closed range.

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Regulations in many states require the so
called use of four separations to be filled.

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A teenager in south Dakota punished
because won\'t remove sheets of paper,

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he stuck on the cell door. Tapes like
this show the brutal reality of life

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in American prisons. It\'s a very
different picture to the one presented

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at the Phoenix exhibition.

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The prisons industry has a budget
of over $40 billion a year.

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There are over 2 millions
prisoners in the US.

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Tasers are used on most American states.

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
If you have a focused aggressive person
towards you, you want to stop that behavior.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
It uses electricity to
remotely immobilize people.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
This is the promotional video.

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
[sil.]

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
But here\'s the taser as punishment.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
[sil.]

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
This Florida prisoner is stunned several
times because he won\'t get into wheel chair.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
His lawyers say he\'s also
mentally handicapped

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
and he believes a back injury
prevents him from walking.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
When he went use of frame, he stunned again.
Amnesty International has linked Tasers

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
to 70 deaths in North America
in the last four years.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
Although, drink, drugs, and heart attacks
are often the official cause of death,

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
Amnesty wants Tasers banned.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
Human rights groups also wants another device out
(inaudible), the same chair that\'s in use at the county jail,

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
braced here by the famous inmate.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
Its makers say restrain chairs protect
prisoners by keeping the airways clear

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
and that they actually eliminate the
possibility of deaths in custody.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
That\'s the sales pitch, here\'s another
glimpse of reality, this time Utah.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
This man has severe schizophrenia
and he was being uncooperative.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
He was stripped and locked
in the chair for 16 hours.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
He was then released but died soon after
from a blood clot. In the last few years

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
more than 20 prisoners have dies
after being restrained like this.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
As a result some states have banned the chair but not
Arizona, even though two of the deaths have been in Phoenix,

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
in sheriff Arpaio\'s jails.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
The Sheriff often takes TV crews
around his half a dozen jails.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
It\'s almost a choreographed routine
for him. Stress the tough conditions,

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
the convict uniforms, the terrible food.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
They know if they mess around, they\'re
gonna end up eating bread and water.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
The criminals are murderers. I\'m sorry,

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
alleged murderers they
haven\'t been convicted yet.

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
The county jails hold those awaiting trails
and those convicted of minor crimes.

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Phoenix voters like his treat to mean
policy. He\'s been elected three times.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
And you\'re in prison, and now you\'re back
here again, and then you\'re going back again.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
Why can\'t you strain up? I\'m a criminal.
No, no. Because, you know, why?

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
You don\'t want a criminal
(inaudible), you wanna be a criminal.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
That strip away the showmanship of Sheriff Arpaio,
and you get a far more brutal allegation.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
But inside his jails prisoners are
beaten, tortured, even killed.

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
[music]

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
Charles (inaudible) was mentally handicapped
and a drug user. He weighed only 9 stone.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
Four years ago he was arrested in late
night store for causing a nuisance.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
His parents assumed he just
be held overnight in jail.

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
The telephone ring and
it\'s the emergency room.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
And they said,

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
\"Well, your son is here, he\'s very bad,

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
we don\'t know if he is gonna
live through the night.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
The horror Charles (inaudible) last hours is
captured by cameras inside Madison Street jail.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
[sil.]

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
He was dragged in like a suitcase.

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
He was hard tied and police
man was kicking him.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
Charles was struggling so nine jail staff force
him to a restrain chair still handcuffed.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
One kneels on his stomach. They bend
him forward to undo the handcuffs

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
and re-strap him in to the chair.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
If it takes nine people to put them,
like to put Charles in a chair,

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
do you know, if that\'s not
torture, I don\'t know what is.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
About 15 minutes later

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
a nurse notices Charles (inaudible) unconscious. She
checks pinching his face, putting ammonia under his nose,

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
but still no one removes the spit mask

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
or freeze him from the chair.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
Training documents from the
sheriff\'s own department

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
clearly warn prisoners must be
uncuffed before going into the chair.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
Bending someone double can
be one cause of what\'s known

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
as positional asphyxia.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
Despite forensic efforts to resuscitate
Charles he was already brain dead.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
His parents are now suing
a defined sheriff.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
You can see all the videos you want, videos don\'t always tell the truth. But you\'re
not denying that he\'s putting the chair with his hands hand cuffed behind his back.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
I\'m not familiar with all
that as far as the hand cuff,

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
I\'m telling you right now,
we did nothing wrong.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
I don\'t like to lose anybody in jail
and in under any circumstances.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
But when you run a jail system or prison system, you
are bound sometimes, it has some deaths that occurs.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
But Scott Norberg death

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
suggests no lessons have been learnt.
Five years earlier

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
he was dragged across the same
jail, confused but not aggressive

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
and forced into the chair hand cuffed.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
A towel was put over his mouth to stop him
spitting. In a later video statements

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
an officer admitted, she warned her
colleague, Scott Norberg was in difficulty.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
I told him that his
turning blue and purple,

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
and he is breathing and he said,
\"Who gives a fuck.\" (inaudible).

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
Who gives a fuck and some sort
of he\'s still gonna fight.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
Scott Norberg suffocated. The county\'s
insurance paid his over $8 million dollars,

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
there were no criminal charges.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
I\'m not gonna argue, this case if over but let me say you this,
if I did anything wrong and my officers I would have been hung.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
They checked everything out,
my officers were clear,

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
they was no problems with that case so I think that tell you the bottom line. Well, if there would be
no problem, they wouldn\'t have paid out eight and a quarter million dollars to settle it, would they?

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
That was the insurance firm, they
were afraid to go before jury.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
The Sheriff promise to make
prison as grimm as possible,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
(inaudible) criminals.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
He put up 10 cities as a cheap way
of housing the rising numbers.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
The inmate population has doubled
during the 12 years in office.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
You ever been to Mexican prison?
Absolutely.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
That\'s the worst prison or jail in the world. You
wanna be there? I\'d rather be there then here.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
We treat you worse than the Mexicans in
the Mexico? Yeah. That\'s pretty bad.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
The Sheriff enjoys hearing inmates
complain about conditions.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
He is less happy when it comes
to allegations of brutality.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
Brian Crenshaw was registered blind.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
Two years ago he was serving six months
because of shop lifting offence.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
There was a message on the answering
machine from his hospital,

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
stating that Brain was there and
in very critical condition.

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
I called and I talked to the doctor

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
and he told me it was a
matter of life and death.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
He said that he had a perforated
intestines, broken neck.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
Brian\'s mother discovered he\'d been in
a scuffle with officers at 10th city.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
He was then transferred
to Madison Street jail

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
and held in solitary confinement.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
Six days later the cameras show
Brian Crenshaw taken to hospital

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
after he was found unconscious in his cell.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
But he\'s already told a prison doctor, he\'s been
kicked and punched by officers at 10th city.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
They murdered my son,

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
Mr. Arpaio is responsible,

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
he is the head of the Sheriff\'s Department

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
and yet he seems to thrive on this

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
cruelty and this mentality
that these men are nothing.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
She smuggled a cameta into the hospital.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
After a month in a coma Brian
Crenshaw dies from septicemia.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
The family is suing, the sheriff insists
this was a self inflected accident.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
You say that he fell off a bunk,

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
but the medical evidence says that\'s
not consistent with his injuries.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
Well, we\'ll see what the medical record shows. So you
still stick by the fact you say, he fell off the bunk.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
Yes, a 100 percent. We
have videos to show that.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
I\'m not going to get into the details
of these cases that are pending.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
But he told one of your own doctors that he
had been severely beaten by prison officers.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
Well, a lot of people in jail say certain

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
comments that are not true. So if you
wanna believe a few of these inmates

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
that have their own agenda
and so on and so be it.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
There\'s now a group, Mothers against
Arpaio, united by the horror stories.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
Powilson\'s son, Phillip was
killed by other inmates.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
She still blames the sheriff

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
saying his staff allow fights to happen.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
Elean\'s had a letter from her daughter describing
how a girl died from an ectopic pregnancy

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
because no one would call a doctor.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
The bad stuff is still happening
and nothing is being done.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
Sheriff Arpaio

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
should look into himself and say, \"Do I wanna
be the toughest Sheriff in The United States

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
because Arizona is not proud

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
of the things that are
going on, believe me.

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
No one has been brought to justice, no one
has been held accountable for his death.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
And I can\'t rest

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
till they are.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
[sil.]

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
I feel very comfortable with myself.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
I go to sleep every night. This
is a tough job that I have,

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
I have full confidence in my officers and
believe me, in The United States of America

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
we have the greatest criminal
justice system that there is

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
and if this Sheriff or my people
did anything wrong, believe me,

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
believe me it would well
publicized and I\'m sure

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
action would have been taken.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
Such confidence doesn\'t exist in every state.
Even where the prison authorities admit,

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
there have been fundamental abuses of
human rights reform can be difficult

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
and sometimes even dangerous.
Next stop California

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
and the state capitol, Sacramento.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
[music]

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
For my son, David. A video on the
steps of the Senate building.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
My son Michael.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
Relatives remember those who\'ve suffered well locked
up by the CYA, the California Youth Authority.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
My hope is that every institution
that house these children,

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
yes they are still children, we shut down.

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
His son, Durrell and soul
mate Deon were found hanging

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:13.000
at one of eight units run by the CYA. It\'s
the first anniversary of their suicide.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
[sil.]

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
40 miles away

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
this is the place they want to shut down
first. (inaudible) meant to everyone as Chad.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
We have conditions which border

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
essentially on what I
would define as torture.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
The youth system was all ready in
crisis, facing law suits over appalling

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
and inhumane treatment.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
But this was the final stroll. In January of
last year two staff were caught in camera,

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
viciously attacking two young inmates.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
Four other staff stood around and watched.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
I was appalled,

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
sitting atop them and pummeling them.
Over and over

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
some, what 22-28 times.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
It began with an argument in the office, but
when one of teenagers hit the staff member,

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
this was his response.

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
He was eventually pulled off when a colleague
aimed a pepper gun at the youth on the floor.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
[sil.]

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
This man\'s now been fired
along with five others.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
[sil.]

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
Officially Chad is the youth facility.
Although, it\'s a prison in all but name.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
The youth authority has promised reform.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
But that means demonishing the deeply ingrained
culture of so many American prisons,

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
centered not on rehabilitation
but on punishment.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
I gotta have handcuffs and
shackles on my waist and legs.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
If I wanna go visit my parents, I gotta wear
shackles. And my shackles don\'t come off

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
no time when I\'m out my room. When I\'m in my room, that\'s the only time
my shackles come off. If this is supposed to be for violent people,

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
but I never had no violent acts, they
say, they\'re doing it for my safety.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
SHARIFFE VAUGHN spent
three years for burglary.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
He described one of the
draconian rules inside.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
It\'s called the feeding position. You gotta get on your stomach
and you put your hands behind our back and you cross your legs

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
and almost like your gonna hog tied, you know, and you gotta
get in that position every time (inaudible) in your room.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
I hope so, I mean, where pushing it.

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
Barry Chrisberg is an
expert on juvenile justice.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
Even before the beatings he suggested radical
reforms which are now slowly being introduced.

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
If you put the young man in a cage,

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
they being thinking themselves as
somebody who are to be encaged.

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
This is one of the harshest juvenile correctional
settings I know we have in the whole country.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
They come out for one hour
exercise in encaged (inaudible).

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
They given an hour program to exercise and do
pushups or sitting out of the door or whatever.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
In the high security unit youths were
locked in their cells 23 hours a day.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
The reforms are reducing that to 21 hours.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
And they are still shackled for
the short walk to the shower.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
[sil.]

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
For most of the kids here
gang loyalty is everything,

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
Black versus White versus Hispanic.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
And until recently staffed did
little to break that culture.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
Essentially we have converted what
should be a rehabilitative mission

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
which seeks to turn their lives around and with
essentially bring them as junior prisons in California.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
We have created what we call essentially
training schools for gladiators.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
More cages and a stock
relic of the old regime.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
Until a few months ago
these were classrooms.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
[music]

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
They would be moved in shackles, brought in
here and then this is were, this is school.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
This would be a classroom. The teacher
would hand books through this slot.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
(inaudible) is not subject
to this level of custody.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
Two years ago, the prison officers union
made their a video about life inside.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
It revealed a lot about their attitudes.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
They may appear to be cages to some folks,
but this is what the state will provide.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
This is the length that the state will go
to, to try to educate these young man.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
But we do so much for these young
people with the hope that it helps.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
Fuse like that mean reform
will be a slow uphill battle.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
And some campaigners believe the CYA is
rotten to the core and should be scrapped.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
I think the brutality has become customary

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
and I think we\'ve gotten so used to this as
a way of operating. We\'ve gone so far away

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
from the concept of rehabilitation
that the daily abuses

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
were immune to them. Not
unlike the US In Iraq.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
Changing the hardened
instinctive behavior of staff

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
is the biggest challenge
for the CYA\'s new boss.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
Those few individuals that don\'t want to go along
with the program, that want to violate policy,

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
that want to use excessive force, that want to do the wrong thing,
they are gonna be extremely uncomfortable in this environment.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
If the officers done wrong,
we\'re gonna go after him

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
and or her with the vengeance.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
In January 2005, a prison officer
was murdered in California.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
Over 2000 colleagues came to morn him.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
Manuel Gonzalez was stabbed to death by an inmate.
No one had been killed on the job for nine years.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
But that underestimates the
dangers and the bond it creates.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
My numbers are assaulted
at the tune of nine

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
a day on average.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
We work behind walls and fences and they hide us
away. The only time the public pays attention

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
to issues within correctional
facilities is when there are riots

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
or scandals or allegations of abuse.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
We sort of have this siege mentality
that, and so without that comradary,

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
I think the job would be
even more unbearable.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
The funeral was a green wall of uniforms.

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
[music]

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In this tight knit profession, officers
back each other up no matter what

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and breaking ranks is not tolerated.

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But that\'s exactly what
Captain Dough Piper did.

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He worked at California\'s
notoriously tough Folsom prison.

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In April, 2002, Dough Piper was on
duty when he realized two rival gangs

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were being realized into the yard together.
He reacted at once.

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We should put it down, right?

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Captain Piper wanted to close the yard but his
boss and assistant warden told him, not yet.

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A full scale riot erupted.

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[sil.]

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Somebody could have simply yelled, get down in there and
the inmates, that would have stopped it right there.

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Had that pushing alarm or blown his
whistle but he was told not to.

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So his superiors specifically stopped him doing
anything that would have suppressed the riot.

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Exactly.

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There\'s been many allegations here of staff doing favors for
the gangs, allowing them to stage fight and settle scores.

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During the investigation
to the Folsom riot,

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Doug Piper raised his concerns only to find
himself move to a less responsible position.

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Everybody immediately assumed

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that Dough was given that job change because
he had to have been somehow fall for the riot,

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which obviously by the video
we know is not the case.

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All of a sudden his reputation was nothing.

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Over nine months Dough Piper
was increasingly treated

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like a traitor to the job
until January, 2003.

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[sil.]

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He didn\'t answer cell phone, and
I kept calling, kept calling.

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And my daughter and I got home at 10 minutes to five and when I came
driving down to the street, his truck was parked in front of the house

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and when I opened the garage, he had evidently
gone up just a couple of blocks and came home

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and shot himself with his shotgun.

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Dough Piper left his family a letter. He asked for a
proper investigation into the causes of the Folsom riot

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and he said that job had killed him.

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I am very sorry but cannot
take the pain any longer.

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I know you\'ll never be able to forgive
me for being selfish and weak.

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Please take care of each other as I
cannot provide any longer. Never be weak

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like I have been and strong. Love Dod.

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[music]

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Last year California\'s entire prison
system came under fair scrutiny.

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The state senate began an enquiry
into whether a code of silence

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was protecting corrupt officers
and victimizing whistleblowers.

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California\'s prison system tears on
the brink of being declared bankrupt

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not only in its policy but in its morality,

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starting with top prison brass.

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Historically the management\'s been weak. The
unions and the gangs have controlled the prisons

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and questioning that status quote
is dangerous, even for politicians.

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There\'ve been a couple of
threats, the most recent one was

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essentially something which originated
from inside the prison walls,

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powdered, supposedly trying to emulate
anthrax was sent to me in a letter

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basically telling me to back off.

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Others have also been threatened.
Office DONALD VODICKA,

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testified about his secretive gang of guards
who call themselves, \"The Green Wall.\"

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We were above law basically.
They used force on inmates,

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they beat up inmates,

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they planted evidence or weapons in..
In.. in cells.

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Four years ago, DONALD VODICKA was working in
Salinas Valley prison. Rumors of the green wall

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had circulated for years. He
was asked to investigate.

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And discovered the corruption ran deep.

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If an inmate was beaten up, presumably if he made a
complaint that had to be some sort of investigation.

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It would be squashed at,
at the management level.

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It wouldn\'t go any further than that. It wouldn\'t go
any farther than probably the supervisor of that yard.

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DONALD VODICKA is now in hiding.

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His lawyer came to the interview and they
insisted that the location was kept secret.

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Ever since I broke the code of silence,
I\'ve lost everything. I\'ve lost friends

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that I had associated with the department of
corrections, I\'ve lost my, some of my family members,

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I\'ve lost everything, I\'ve
lost my career, I\'ve lost

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financially it has devastated me,
I\'m on the move all the time. Why?

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Because I fear for my life. Seriously? Seriously.
I wear a bullet proof vest, on a daily basis.

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Show me.

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[sil.]

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It\'s a bullet proof vest. I
also carry a concealed weapon.

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The prison department is
now under a new management

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determined to sack corrupt staff and
the union\'s agreed to cooperate.

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Are you accepting that within your ranks,

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you do have some officers who have abused,
behaved in a way that is not acceptable?

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I would be a fool to do deny that. I
would be a fool to sit here and tell you

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that out of 31,000 people I
don\'t have an element that has

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some thuggery in them. There are bad
people and some of them wear badges.

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We have to find the as quickly as
possible and we have to get rid of them.

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But at least California
recognizes the need for change.

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Across America the prison deaths continue.
Two more in the last month,

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in Alabama and Ohio, one man
after being pepper sprayed,

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the other, repeatedly tasered.

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Once you know how America runs its prisons at
home, then the obscene abuses at Abu Gharib

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are no less shocking, just less surprising.

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[sil.]