Ireland refuses to extradite, calls out US on inhumane solitary confinement

Irish High Court Bars Extradition of Terror Suspect to U.S., Citing Inhumanity of Solitary Confinement

Loaded on April 1, 2016 by Derek Gilna published in Prison Legal News April, 2016, page 60

Filed under: War on Terror, Immigration, Control Units.

In its decision in the Damache case, the Irish High Court proceeded to eviscerate the American criminal justice system. First, it noted that the adverse psychological effects of solitary confinement are well-documented, citing a 2014 report by the UN’s Committee Against Torture which described the full isolation of prisoners held in U.S. supermax facilities such as the ADX. Second, it found “The lack of meaningful judicial review creates a risk of arbitrariness in the detention of the person in solitary confinement and therefore confirms that the prolonged detention amounts to a breach of constitutional rights.” The High Court also criticized the U.S. concept of “relevant conduct,” used to tack on additional prison time based on circumstantial and hearsay evidence, as being contrary to Irish law.

via https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2016/apr/1/irish-high-court-bars-extradition-terror-suspect-us-citing-inhumanity-solitary-confinement/

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Yesterday, I reblogged a Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity post about a California woman who had committed suicide a day ahead of her parole hearing. I asked that people sign this related petition (and now ask again).

And yesterday, I received a daunting list of requests for additional blog posts by Harold Hempstead about the often deadly and always inappropriate intermingling of inmates who are in Close Management and inmates who are in Protective Custody within Florida Department of Corrections’ facilities, which I’d addressed in a March blog post, “Caged Crusader advises feds, ACLU of systemic #LoveFL inmate endangerment.”

Those vulnerable to attack by others are placed in Protective Custody; those likely to attack others are in Close Management, and for so long as even one Florida corrections facility is deliberately mixing the two within the same cell – continuing a well-documented, deadly pattern – Florida Governor Rick Scott will be willfully engaging in a federal crime in allowing Julie Jones to stay on as Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections … failure to keep from harm.

Harold Hempstead, whistleblower inmate dubbed “Caged Crusader” by the Miami Herald

Governor Scott has remained confident that he won’t be federally prosecuted, no matter how high the body count of suspicious inmate deaths, no matter how many investigations remain pending year-after-year, no matter how many investigations are “resolved” ridiculously, like mentally ill Darren Rainey’s scalding death in a locked shower being declared an accident, despite external-only water temperature controls.

Rick Scott’s confidence should be shaken this morning. So should Jerry Brown’s.

Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, Harold Hempstead, and all the other voices calling for safe, humane prisons aren’t being ignored worldwide; they’re only being ignored here. Ireland has broken the silence on torture within U.S. prisons; other nations will likely follow its lead … a response from the White House will be more credible if it happens sooner rather than later, and includes calls for the immediate investigation and prosecution of state governors who have failed to keep inmates from harm.

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
~ Benjamin Franklin ~