> Published Thursday, June 24, 1999, in the Miami Herald
>
> Human-rights group assails jail torture probe
>
> By ANDRES VIGLUCCI
> Herald Staff Writer
>
> A year after immigration detainees alleged they were beaten and shocked
> with electric devices at a Florida Panhandle jail, human-rights
> activists are raising concerns over the apparently slow pace of a
> federal investigation into their complaints.
>
> In a new report on the use of electroshock equipment in U.S. jails and
> prisons, Amnesty International highlights the allegations of abuse at
> the Jackson County Correctional Facility in Marianna, and questions why
> Justice Department investigators took ``months'' to begin a promised
> investigation that has yet to be concluded.
>
> As late as April, Amnesty says, the investigators had reportedly
> attempted to interview only one of the 17 detainees who gave sworn
> statements to the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, a private group in
> Miami that first publicized the allegations. The detainee has since been
> deported without giving a statement to authorities.
>
> Another detainee who may have witnessed abuses recently died of cancer
> that went undiagnosed at the Jackson County jail, also apparently
> without being interviewed by investigators, other detainees said.
>
> ``We definitely are noting concern with a lack of response at this
> point, with how long it's taken,'' said Janice Christensen, director of
> national campaigns at Amnesty USA. ``It's essential that the
> investigation be conducted promptly. Nobody expects the allegations to
> be taken at face value. But the more time passes, the harder it is to
> conduct a proper investigation.''
>
> The spokesperson for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division,
> which is conducting the probe, was unavailable Wednesday. The agency in
> the past has declined to comment publicly on its investigation.
>
> Amnesty's report notes that Justice officials told the group that both
> civil and criminal investigations were ``ongoing,'' but would divulge no
> details.
>
> `No one at all has gotten back to us'
>
> But two of the detainees who alleged they were shocked, brothers Alberto
> and Rolando Vera, said Wednesday that no one from the government has
> attempted to contact them. The Cuban-born Veras were released by the
> Immigration and Naturalization Service last year and are living in
> Miami.
>
> ``No one at all has gotten back to us,'' Rolando Vera, 28, said. ``I
> just thank God I'm out and I'm free. But those officers in Jackson
> County should be incarcerated for abuse of human rights.''
>
> Both Veras say they were subjected by Jackson jail officers to a form of
> punishment they refer to as being ``crucified'' -- shackled to a
> concrete slab in a spread-eagle position and given powerful shocks from
> electric shields. The controversial shields are used in some facilities
> to subdue out-of-control inmates but are not meant for use on someone
> who is tied down.
>
> ``They crucified us to the concrete bed and put it to your chest. They
> would zap you. They kicked me in the face and broke my teeth,'' Rolando
> Vera said. ``It was terrible.''
>
> The Veras said that one detainee who complained of ailments allegedly
> ignored by officers at the jail was threatened with similar treatment if
> he did not stop. That man, Domingo Perez, was subsequently diagnosed
> with throat cancer and died earlier this year at Jackson Memorial
> Hospital in Miami shortly after he was released by the INS.
>
> Allegations of beatings, shocks
>
> In their sworn statements, the Veras and other detainees complained of
> beatings, shocks from electric batons, arbitrary use of solitary
> confinement, and ethnic and racial taunts by officers.
>
> The INS, which uses county jails across the state to house detainees,
> removed all 34 of its detainees from the Jackson County facility after
> the allegations surfaced. Like the Veras, most were being held for
> deportation, some after serving criminal sentences. The agency is not
> currently using the jail, said Maria Elena Garcia, a spokeswoman in
> Miami.
>
> Jail administrators did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
> County officials in the past have defended their practices, saying that
> while inmates bent on harming themselves are sometimes tied to the
> concrete beds for their own protection, no one is mistreated at the
> facility.
>
> But Amnesty officials say use of the shock shields, stun belts and
> electric batons by officers at Jackson County and other U.S. jails
> raises serious questions.
>
> ``We are categorizing this as allegations of torture,'' Christensen
> said. ``We believe the use of electroshock equipment is dangerously
> blurring the line between legitimate prisoner control and torture. We
> are calling for more vigorous investigation of the medical effects and
> the opportunity for abuse.''
>
> `Little faith' in probe
>
> The Miami-Dade chapter of Amnesty picked up the Jackson County item in
> its June newsletter, asking members to write to U.S. Attorney General
> Janet Reno to urge a prompt conclusion to the investigation.
>
> Investigators did try to question one detainee, a Bahamian named Patrick
> Johnson, but he asked that an attorney be present, said Cheryl Little,
> the Miami advocate who first publicized the allegations. Authorities
> never followed up, and he was deported in March without having given a
> statement, said his attorney, Kenneth Spiegelman.
>
> Little said she is convinced after repeated conversations with Justice
> Department officials that the investigation is stalled.
>
> At one point, Little said, a Justice official told her investigators
> would not question detainees because they had already given statements
> to her group, raising the potential of conflicting evidence. Little
> called the posture ``ludicrous.''
>
> ``We have little faith the investigation is being properly conducted,''
> Little said. ``They keep assuring us this is a priority, and that they
> are moving along. But it would appear otherwise.''
>
> e-mail: aviglucci at herald.com