Violence, abuse, overcrowding have been discovered in US jails
Date
11/12/2022 7:42:09 AM
(MENAFN) According to the Voice of America, America's jails are a shambles, plagued by overcrowding and a shortage of guards, and filled with violence and cruelty.
Based on the research, more than a dozen staff, prisoners, and specialists identified two concerns they've observed at jails around the country: too many people detained and too enough guards.
"It's hard to believe, but it seems jails are even more wretched than usual these last few months," the report quoted David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project as stating. "Having worked in this field for 30 years, I don't remember any other time when there seem to be so many large jails in a state of complete meltdown."
Overcrowding and understaffing have plagued jails across the country for years, and many institutions were in disorder even before the outbreak, according to the research.
"Everyone is on edge because it is crowded," one man detained in Los Angeles wrote in a sworn declaration filed as part of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. "The place smells of urine and excrement because some toilets don't work, and people who are chained to chairs sometimes pee on the floor because the deputies won't unchain them."
According to the report, having fewer jail employees not only forces those who remain to work longer hours, but it can also make life more difficult for detainees because there are fewer workers to let them out of their cells, take them to court, teach their educational programs, or tend to their most basic needs.
Staffing issues, according to Andrea Armstrong, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans who analyzes mortality in jails and prisons, are especially harmful when it comes to medical care.
"We are seeing increased mortality in jails, and they are the types of deaths that could have been avoided if the person had better access to emergency care," she asserted.
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