USA.- A court orders body cameras in California prisons after abuses of several disabled prisoners

MADRID, 13 (EUROPA PRESS)

A federal judge has ordered the mandatory use of body cameras for prison guards at five California prisons following allegations of abuse of several inmates with disabilities.

Magistrate Claudia Wilken’s order requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to place the cameras at the Los Angeles County California State Prison, Corcoran State Prison, and the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility as well as well as the California Institution for Women and the Kern Valley State Prison.

“The Court determines that body cameras are likely to improve investigations of staff misconduct and reduce the incidence of violations of the rights of disabled inmates,” said Wilken in his sentence, collected by the ‘Los Angeles Times ‘.

The judge issued her ruling after reviewing dozens of statements submitted by lawyers for the rights of prisoners and the disabled. “Some of the incidents involve the use of force against mentally or physically disabled inmates, although they did not pose an imminent threat to the safety of staff or other inmates,” he said.

For example, at Lancaster Prison, an inmate with bipolar disorder was beaten in June 2019 after complaining of hallucinations. After a mental health evaluation, two guards hit him on the head during a verbal altercation. In December of that year, another prisoner with a “manic episode” was beaten on the ground with pepper spray.

“The descriptions in these statements of staff behavior towards disabled inmates are remarkably consistent, and respondents have no incentive to make up the incidents they describe in such detail,” he concluded.

In response to the ruling, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has assured that correctional officials “are evaluating the judge’s order at this time, but we take the safety of the incarcerated population very seriously and work vigorously to protect to people with disabilities “.

“The CDCR has taken measures to improve the conditions of the people in our care and adapt to physical and mental disabilities, as well as the development of the responsibility of the staff in the face of behavior that goes against the values ​​of the department,” he added. .

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