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| Panel convenes hearings on prison violence |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/20/2005 |
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Alarmed by the growing violence and abuse accompanying America's prison population boom, a private panel Tuesday opened a series of national hearings aimed at exploring why the corrections system is broken and how it can be fixed. The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons heard testimony, sometimes graphic, from former prisoners and jailers, detailing horrors taking place behind bars. Federal statistics show that more than 2.2 million men and women are currently incarcerated, quadruple the number in 1980. That growth prompted the panel to declare that all Americans are hurt by rapes, systemic degradation, attacks on guards and beatings of inmates. "When a prison environment becomes dangerous or abusive, everyone in society suffers," said Nicholas de B. Katzenbach, a commission co-chairman and a U.S. attorney general under Lyndon Johnson. John Gibbons, former chief justice of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the commission's other chairman, said the testimony would "paint a picture of life in prison that doesn't fit with the core values of our democratic society and, therefore, should trouble all Americans." The 21-member commission -comprised of prison and justice administrators, former prisoners, psychologists and civil rights leaders -- hopes to deliver recommendations for reforms at the federal, state and local levels. One commissioner stated the issue touched Americans when details emerged of soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners -- but that concern hasn't translated to the homefront. "Nobody wants to hear about it," said Ray Krone, who spent a decade in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder. "Nobody is interested." Testifying before the commission was Ron McAndrew, superintendent of Florida State Prison in Starke from 1996-98. He said that upon his arrival, identifying potentially dangerous officers was a priority. But his efforts to weed them out were unsuccessful, and a year after McAndrew was transferred out, officers were accused of fatally beating a death row inmate. Two trials in the county where the prison is the biggest employer ended in verdicts of not guilty. The first witness was a former Texas prison inmate who told the panel of the repeated rapes inflicted by an officer. Garrett Cunningham said he kept quiet about the attacks, fearing retaliation. When he finally told authorities, he said he was ignored, and he dared not endanger himself by admitting weakness to the other inmates. Also testifying was a Rhode Island police detective wrongly convicted of murder. Jeffrey Scott Hornoff, held for six years, said he endured officers' humiliations and listened as other inmates were beaten. Organizing the commission is the Vera Institute of Justice, a New York-based nonprofit research group works with governments on criminal justice issues. The hearing continues today. |
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