DEATHS IN PRISONS 2005

30. Dezember 2005

USA

angeblicher suizid eines 36 jährigen mannes, kurz nachdem er wegen wärtermangel von der suizid-beobachtungsliste gestrichen wurde.( davis county knast /kentucky)

Jail inmate found dead after being taken off suicide watch

Investigators say a jail inmate hanged himself shortly after being taken off a suicide watch list and wasn't found for almost two hours.

Daviess County Sheriff's Lieutenant Jeff Jones says Robert Shouse was able to thread the bedsheet through an air vent in the ceiling of his cell. The 36-year-old Maceo native apparently hanged himself in an isolation cell at the jail. Daviess County Jailer David Osborne says the jail's policy of checking inmates in isolation every 20 minutes wasn't followed because of a staffing shortage. Shouse was jailed in September on a parole violation and was charged in October while in custody with drug trafficking, drug possession and methamphetamine manufacturing.

[  wkyt.com

29 December 2005

USA

New Orleans police gun down mentally ill man

By Joanne Laurier

A New Orleans man, described by relatives as mentally ill, was gunned down by police on Monday. Anthony Hayes, 38, was killed after allegedly lunging at police with a three-inch blade. Three bystanders videotaped part of Hayes’s confrontation with some 18 police officers, three of whom fired nine shots at the man.

Eyewitnesses expressed anger over the fatal use of force given the victim’s apparent illness. They said that Hayes was a familiar, but solitary, figure in the neighborhood. Michelle Dawson, a Burger King employee, said that Hayes would spend hours at a table in the restaurant talking to himself without bothering other customers. Phin Percy, a professional videographer, shot a videotape from a second-story window that shows Hayes slowly backpedaling up the street, keeping his distance from police. He is wielding a small knife in his right hand, as more than a dozen policeman keep pace, their guns aimed at the man.

Monique Champagne, who had arrived from Austin, Texas, to visit her damaged home, also filmed part of the prelude to the shooting. “There were so many cops there I thought, surely, this guy just shot a cop,” said Champagne. She described the scene in which bystanders begged Hayes to surrender and police not to shoot. “At first it was real quiet and slow, then faster and faster as more cops showed up. Then one gun went off and then a whole bunch went off.... I think it was injustice.... That guy shouldn’t have died. Just a shame,” she said. Robert Stickney, a shop owner who watched part of the confrontation through his store’s picture window, stated, “It’s just a shame they had to kill him.” A patron at a nearby bar, Trey Brokaw, told reporters: “I didn’t see anyone near him. It didn’t seem like anyone was going to get hurt.”

Responding to questions as to why officers, given their overwhelming force, could not have wounded Hayes in the legs (or simply waited for him to drop the knife), New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley justified the killing. He told Associated Press the officers would have betrayed their training if they had aimed to fire a non-lethal shot. He further stated that officers are trained to treat knife attacks as deadly force and are not schooled in disarming suspects with knives using hand-to-hand combat. “The vast majority of police departments—state, local and federal—are trained to shoot-to-kill...either the head or the chest area,” stated Riley.

Hayes’s killing is hardly the first brutal episode involving New Orleans police. City police officers were videotaped October 8 fiercely beating a 64-year-old retired teacher, Robert Davis, in the French Quarter of the city. Last week, two officers were fired over the incident and a third suspended for four months. Both post-Hurricane Katrina cases of police violence in New Orleans would have received scant attention by the media had they not been captured on videotape. In fact, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana revealed that it is investigating at least 10 brutality complaints filed in the past month or so.

According to Rafael Goyeneche of the Metropolitan Crime Commission of Greater New Orleans, the public feels alienated from a police department “whose reputation of corruption lingers and the new problems compound it.” Thirteen officers remain under investigation after being accused of stealing from unprotected businesses during the Katrina crisis. At the Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas Street, videos and photographs show cops stealing merchandise. A separate case being investigated by the state attorney general’s office involves as many as 40 officers in the removal of some 200 cars from a Cadillac dealership.

The New Orleans Police Department’s reputation of corruption and brutality goes back decades. It was solidified in the 1990s when police were arrested for crimes ranging from shoplifting and bribery to bank robbery, drug dealing, rape and homicide. Two former cops are currently on death row—one for the 1994 murder of a woman who had filed a complaint against him, another for a triple-murder committed during a restaurant holdup in 1995.

The Bush administration’s militarist approach to Katrina, as well as the media’s portrayal of the storm’s victims as looters and rapists, has no doubt further encouraged the police department’s most backward and sadistic elements. While the Wal-Mart and alleged car thefts by police officers are well documented, other incidents that occurred during the first week after Katrina—before the military arrived—have received far less coverage. These involved at least seven separate shootings by New Orleans police officers in which four people were killed and seven injured.

The most controversial of the incidents took place in eastern New Orleans on the Danziger Bridge on September 4. According to an article in the December 18 issue of the Times-Picayune, “When the shooting was broadcast over the police radio, a cheer erupted among commanders who were huddled miles away at ‘headquarters’—the valet parking apron at Harrah’s New Orleans Casino. When asked what the celebration was about, one captain answered, ‘We got six of them. None of our guys got hurt.’

“Police said 7th District officers came under fire when they responded to a report of ‘officers down’ in an area where contractors had been fired upon earlier. After the smoke cleared it turned out that no officers were wounded.” Among those killed was an unarmed 40-year-old disabled man, Ronald Madison, shot multiple times in the back. A mentally ill man, who by all accounts posed no threat, is gunned down in cold blood, and this execution is justified on the basis of the “shoot-to-kill” mandate given to police agencies. Such a state of affairs is indicative of the growing brutalization of American society and its underlying social polarization.

[  wsws.org

28. Dezember 2005

BRD

45jähriger stirbt in Untersuchungshaft - Todesursache bisher unklar

Ein Untersuchungsgefangener ist im Berliner Haftkrankenhaus Moabit gestorben. Der 45jährige wurde am Montag abend auf einem Stationsflur bewußtlos von Pflegern gefunden. Trotz sofort eingeleiteter Reanimation konnte der Notarzt nur noch den Tod des inhaftierten Mannes feststellen. Das teilte die Senatsverwaltung für Justiz gestern mit. Die Todesursache ist bislang noch unklar, eine Obduktion solle Klarheit bringen. Der Mann saß erst seit dem 22. Dezember in der Untersuchungshaftanstalt. Dem 45jährigen wurde gemeinschaftlich gewerbsmäßiger Betrug vorgeworfen. dpa

[  morgenpost.berlin1.de

28. Dezember 2005

USA

im confederated salish and kootenai tribal knast starb eine 36 jährige frau angeblich an einer medikamentenüberdosis.

Investigation ordered into female inmate's death at Pablo jail

Authorities have ordered an investigation into the death earlier this month of a woman being held at the tribal jail in Pablo.

An autopsy indicated Annaliesa McDonough Parker, 36, died of a prescription drug overdose, and authorities said she apparently was able to sneak the drugs into the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal jail with her. Mitch Young, Lake County's chief deputy attorney, said that the inquest, while not mandatory because Parker died in a tribal facility, was sought by Craig Couture, chief of the Tribal Law and Order Department, and Lake County Sheriff Bill Barron.

The inquest will likely occur in January, Young said. Tribal members are held in the tribe's jail to serve a variety of sentences for criminal offenses that violate the tribal legal code. They can be held there for as long as a year. Under state law governing deaths in law enforcement custody, an inquest must be held if a prisoner dies in a county or state jail, but not necessarily in a tribal facility. The Lake County coroner cannot hold the inquest because of a provision that prohibits the inquest being held by a coroner employed by local law enforcement. Powell County Coroner John Pohle has agreed to preside at the inquest, Young said.

[  billingsgazette.com

27. Dezember 2005

USA

ungeklärter tod eines 14 jährigen im king county jugendknast / washington

14-year-old in county detention facility dies

A 14-year-old in custody at the King County Juvenile Detention Facility died Monday morning after staff found him incapacitated and rushed him to Harborview Medical Center. Authorities said the boy was found in his dorm, and staff began CPR before he was taken to Harborview. He was pronounced dead at the hospital and his parents were notified. Authorities initially declined to release any other details about the death. The Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention, along with the Seattle Police Department, is investigating.

[  seattlepi.nwsource.com

25. Dezember 2005

USA

angeblicher suizd eines 26 jährigen im bob wiley knast / tulare county, kalifornien.

Man found hanged in jail cell

A man arrested on drug charges this fall was found hanging by a telephone cord in his jail cell, and foul play was not suspected, authorities said. Chou See, 26, was found in his cell at the Bob Wiley Detention Facility in Visalia during a floor check on Saturday, according to police. See was taken to Kaweah Delta District Hospital, where he remained on life support Sunday, jail officials said. See was arrested Oct. 15 and moved to the detention center Oct. 25.

[  mercurynews.com

22. Dezember 2005

USA

angeblicher suizid eines 40 jähriger mannes, der anfang / mitte dezember mit 5 anderen im zusammenhang mit sog. ökoterroristischen anschlägen festgenommen wurde. ( wie auf einigen linken foren und der earth liberation website nachzulesen war wurde einer der sechs festgenommenen zum kronzeugen)

Suspect in ecoterror case found dead

An Arizona bookstore owner charged with eco-sabotage in Washington was found dead in a Flagstaff jail cell early Thursday, authorities said. William C. Rodgers, 40, of Prescott, Ariz., committed suicide, according to the Coconino County sheriff's office. The county medical examiner determined that Rodgers suffocated after placing a plastic bag over his head while he was being held in a one-person cell. Rodgers was one of six people arrested this month in connection with eco-terrorist attacks in Oregon and Washington in recent years. He was charged in the firebombing of a government wildlife lab outside Olympia, Wash. In an affidavit filed in federal court last week, an FBI agent said Rodgers attended a meeting of Earth Liberation Front members in western Colorado where the arson of a Vail, Colo., ski resort was planned.

[  denverpost.com

20 Dezember 2005

BURMA / MAYAMAR

am 16. dezember starb ein 30 jähriger mann, einer der vielen politischen gefangenen, im pegu knast an tuberkulose.

Death camp Burma: Another political prisoner dies in detention

Another Burmese political prisoner, Aung Zaw Latt who had been serving a lengthy jail term at Pegu Prison, died on the morning of 16 December. 30-year old Aung Zaw Latt was arrested in September 1999 for his involvement in the failed 1999 uprising, and sentenced to 8 years in prison with the notorious Act-5J & Act-17/1. Before his death, he had been suffering from a severe form of tuberculosis due to lack of proper medical cares in prison.

He was buried on the following day during a summarised funeral service which was attended by political circles in Pegu and a handful of prison authority members. The death of Aung Zaw Latt came not along after London-based Amnesty International issued a report which claims the human rights situation in Burma deteriorated during 2005 and some prisoners had been dying in suspicious circumstances.

The report, "Myanmar: Travesties of Justice " Continued Misuse of the legal system?, details human rights abuses carried out by Burma's ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), and pinpoints the way with which it has been carrying them out. A spokesperson of AI told DVB that people are even being prosecuted for reporting human rights violations and talking to journalists, and lengthy prison sentences are handed down to political figures for engaging in political discussion.

May Aung Zaw Latt rest in peace!

[  english.dvb.no

[  Myanmar
   Travesties of Justice – Continued Misuse of the legal system.pdf

18. Dezember 2005

USA

angeblicher suizid eines mannes im rock county knast / wisconsin

Inmate found hanging in Rock County Jail

Staff at Rock County Jail found a 35-year-old inmate hanging dead in his cell early today and performed basic life support, but the man died. The sheriff's department says the man was Christopher John Brown of Janesville. Brown was taken into custody on Wednesday for three counts of second degree sexual assault and false imprisonment and was being held on a 16-thousand dollar cash bond. An investigation into the incident was continuing.

[  wbay.com

15. Dezember 2005

USA

ungeklärter tod einer 31 jährigen frau im muskegon county knast.

Police await autopsy in jail death

Preliminary results of an autopsy conducted after the death early Wednesday of a 31-year-old woman at the Muskegon County Jail are not expected for at least a week, an official said this morning. And it likely will take several months before a written autopsy report in the death of Angela Beth Faith is received, Sheriff George Jurkas said.

Faith, of 2203 Larue, was found dead in a holding cell about 4:30 a.m. She was alone in the glass-walled cell and authorities said there was no obvious indication of a seizure or a fall. She had been arrested the night before by Norton Shores police on a probation violation warrant. She had been on probation for a drunken driving offense, police said. Reports said she had been staying at the Seaway Motel, 631 W. Norton. Police were called to parking lot of the Redi-Med, 747 W. Norton, at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday where they found a woman who appeared to be slightly intoxicated and wanted to use the phone, a report said.

An officer asked her to return to the motel to use the phone, but she reappeared at the walk-in medical clinic about a half hour later and police discovered she was wanted on the warrant. She was taken to jail about 7:30 p.m. and formally booked in at 8:45 p.m. Jurkas said police checked her room at the motel Wednesday and removed several prescription medications that were turned over to the Muskegon County medical examiner to help with the autopsy.

[  mlive.com

13. Dezember 2005

USA

im knast rikers island / new york wurde ein 34 jähriger mann tod aufgefunden, die todesursache ist nicht bekannt, vermutet wird suizid.

Horror hubby's dead in his cell

Miguel Carrasquillo, a crazed gunman whose life has been marred by bizarre, dramatic and sometimes violent antics, was found dead in his Rikers Island jail cell yesterday. Correction officials have not determined the cause of death, but relatives said they wouldn't be surprised if he committed suicide.

Carrasquillo was facing a possible life sentence for allegedly shooting and wounding an Elmhurst Hospital Center worker and then kidnapping his wife, Nancy, on Sept. 11, 2004. He then brought her to North Carolina, where he was eventually caught - but not before a desperate escape attempt when he leaped from a speeding police cruiser. That act was proof he was insane, his lawyers said. Two psychologists agreed Carrasquillo was insane, citing depression as a major factor. Prosecutors said he was faking it to avoid prison, and months of hearings followed before Queens Supreme Court Justice William Erlbaum. Once, Carrasquillo - who looked like a wild man after gaining weight and letting his hair and beard grow - called the judge "SpongeBob."

Prosecutors argued that Carrasquillo, who told doctors someone pulls his leg in his cell and that he hears horses galloping, had been coached by other mental health patients at Rikers Island. In May, Erlbaum agreed and ordered Carrasquillo to stand trial. On Dec. 1, Carrasquillo, 34, had rejected the prosecutor's final offer of 22 years in prison, and the trial was set to begin next month. "He was depressed; I wouldn't be surprised if it was suicide," a doctor familiar with the case told the Daily News. "He made at least one credible suicide attempt before and that's the best predictor."

His cousin, Janice Rivera, 26, wept at the news of his death. "Even before this all happened he said he had suicidal thoughts," she said. "He wasn't making it up - he really wasn't doing well. But it's so hard to get inside someone's head and say what was going on." An autopsy to determine the cause of death is pending, correction officials said. "It's a sad ending to a tragic situation," said defense lawyer Michael Siff. "He was distressed when we came back with the final offer. You think, could you have sugarcoated it? Could you have lessened the blow?"

[  nydailynews.com

11. Dezember 2005

RUSSIA

durch den einsturz eines daches sind in einem knast im südwestlichen teil von moskau 3 gefangene ums leben gekommen ( am nächsten tag gab es die meldung das einer der gefangenen geflohen sei)

THREE die as jail roof falls

Moscow - A roof collapsed at a Moscow jail on Sunday, killing at least three people, officials said. The bodies of three victims were removed from under debris at the jail in southeastern Moscow, the emergency situations ministry's branch for the Moscow region said in a statement. The identity of the victims wasn't immediately given, and it remained unclear whether they were inmates or prison workers. The Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies said that 10 other people were injured in the collapse, and more people could be buried under debris. Conditions are harsh in many Russian prisons and other detention facilities, which suffer from funding shortages and are in desperate need of repairs.

[  news24.com

6 Dezember 2005

BANGLADESH

polizisten der mohammadpur wache in dhaka haben einen wegen angebl. diebstahl festgenommenen mann mit hockeyschlägern ermordet. die ärzte des sohrawardi krankenhaus, in das der bereits tote mann gebracht wurde, wurden den von den polizisten bedroht und sollten behaupten der mann sei nach der einlieferung an den folgen eines sturzes gestorben.

BANGLADESH: Arbitrary arrest; torture; extra-judicial killing

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a man was arbitrarily arrested and detained then tortured and subsequently killed by the police attached to the Mohammadpur police station in Dhaka. The police arrested the man after suspecting him of involvement in a theft case, which took place in a jewelers shop at the New Super Market at the Sobhanbag. The police, upon taking the man into remand, proceeded to beat him with hockey sticks. The victim sustained considerable injuries to his body, which was evident when it was later examined at the morgue of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

However, the police claim that the victim was involved in a theft case and when they went to retrieve the stolen goods, the victim fell ill and so they admitted him at the Sowrawardi hospital. His wife and neighbour, conversely, state that the victim had been in good health and was suffering from no ailment. Following the victim?s death, the police then intimidated the medical doctors, who were on duty at the Sohrawardi Hospital, and forced them to report that the victim had died only after being admitted. The police have filed a case of unnatural death with the Mohammadpur police station.

[  ahrchk.net

6 december 2005

NIGERIA

NIGERIA: Compensation for families of six youths killed by police

ABUJA, 6 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - The Nigerian government in a landmark move has paid compensation to families of six people wrongly shot and killed by police.Police Affairs Minister Broderick Bozimo on Friday paid out cheques of three million naira (US $21,000) each to representatives of the families of five men and one woman killed by police in June 2005.

The police had claimed the six were armed robbers, killed while trading gunfire with police in the Apo district of the Nigerian capital, Abuja.Bozimo said a judicial inquiry launched by the government found “incontrovertible evidence” the victims were not armed robbers. “Government therefore exonerates the six victims and apologises to their families and in fact all Nigerians,” he said.The government’s pay-out could unleash a flood of compensation claims in Nigeria where, according to a July report by New York-based Human Rights Watch, security forces have operated with impunity for years carrying out torture, extortion and executions.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in August publicly acknowledged widespread extrajudicial killings of suspects and innocent citizens by the country's police and pledged a clean-up operation.Families of the six youths killed in Apo say their loved ones had a brief argument with the police on their way home from a party and were later gunned down by the officers.Seven police officers have been arrested and charged with murder, including Ibrahim Danjuma, the number-two police official in Abuja.

Prosecutors allege Danjuma personally ordered the killings and shot four of the victims.Word of the shootings, which took place on the night of 7 June, provoked violent street protests in which a police station and several patrol cars were set alight.Police commonly use charges of armed robbery as a pretext for detaining people and extorting money from them, according to a UN human rights expert who visited the country in July. Police were also guilty of excessive force, often resulting in death, the UN official said.

[  irinnews.org

4. Dezember 2005

USA

in den letzten 5 jahren starben 9 menschen im santa fee bezirksgefängnis.

DEATHS at the county jail

According to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department, nine people died at the county jail in the last five years.

2005

OCTOBER: Carole D. Gutierrez, 24, died in the booking unit. Witnesses say she was withdrawing from heroin, but the Office of the Medical Investigator has not determined the cause of death. The Española woman was jailed on an outstanding warrant and had a court order to be sent to drug treatment. AUGUST: The body of Chimayó resident Michael Martinez, 39, was discovered hanging from the light fixture in his cell in the medical ward. At the time of his death, the sheriff said Martinez was recovering from drug- and alcohol-withdrawal symptoms. He was jailed on multiple charges including aggravated assault and battery, possession of drug paraphernalia, reckless driving and aggravated fleeing from an officer. MAY: A 62-year-old man, William Garrett of Hernandez, died of a suspected heart attack. Investigation records say his death was from natural causes. He was jailed for failing to appear in court on a domestic-violence case. FEBRUARY: Chris Roybal, 37, died after he allegedly overdosed on heroin. Inmate statements to police said Roybal frequently shot up in the jail's dormitory cell. Investigators found a syringe in a shoe near his body. The Santa Fe man was jailed on a probation violation and was slated to be sent to Fort Stanton for treatment.

2004

JUNE: Dickie Ortega, 32, was beaten in a jail cell and died of those wounds at the hospital. The Chimayó man had been jailed on charges of larceny, auto theft, receiving stolen property and drug-related offenses. Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty for the inmates accused of attacking him. MARCH: Juan Ignacio Sanchez, 22, used shoelaces to take his life. Sanchez, an Ojo Sarco resident, had been jailed on charges he was connected with the slaying of a Los Alamos man. In a suicide note, he admitted slitting the man's throat.

2003

No deaths were reported.

2002

JANUARY: Tyson Johnson, 27, who had been jailed on assault charges, hanged himself in a booking cell, triggering a federal Justice Department investigation. Days earlier, he had tried to kill himself by tying a blanket to an overhead sprinkler head at the jail.

2001

JULY: Officials suspect Santiago Martinez, 19, died of a heroin overdose while he was inside the jail's segregation unit. Martinez, who was from Ojo Sarco, was awaiting trial on heroin-related drug charges at the time of his death.

2000

DECEMBER: Ricky Roybal, 34, hanged himself with a bed sheet. Roybal, a Rio Arriba County resident, was awaiting trial on murder charges.

[  freenewmexican.com

29. November 2005

AUSTRIA

Häftling erhängte sich mit Elektrokabel

Zu elf Jahren verurteilt, verübte heute Früh ein 57-jähriger Häftling in der Justizvollzugsanstalt Garsten Selbstmord.

Ein 57-jähriger Häftling, der in der Strafvollzugsanstalt Garsten eine Haftstrafe von elf Jahren zu verbüßen hatte, erhängte sich heute gegen 4:15 Uhr in seiner Zelle im Anstaltsspital. In Sechs-Mann-Zelle erhängt Der Häftling, derin einer Sechs-Mann-Zelle untergebracht war, erhängte sich mit einem Elektroverlängerungskabel, das er an einem Fensterflügel befestigt hatte. Einer seiner Zellenkollegen erwachte, vernahm ein Röcheln und verständigte sofort über die Zellensprechanlage die Justizbeamten. Wiederbelebungsversuche erfolglos Die Beamten führten sofort Erste-Hilfe-Maßnahmen durch und versuchten den Häftling mittels Defibrilator wiederzubeleben. Das verständigte Notarztteam traf gegen 04:25 Uhr ein. Die Reanimationsmaßnahmen verliefen erfolglos. Von der Notärztin konnte schließlich nur noch der Tod des Häftlings festgestellt werden.  Fremdverschulden ist auszuschließen.  Es wurde eine gerichtliche Obduktion beantragt.

[  nachrichten.at

November 2005

AUSTRIA

racism kills

Rassismus tötet. Unvollständige Dokumentation von Todesfällen bei Deportationen und in Polizeigewahrsam.

[  no-racism.net

November 2005

AUSTRIA

The Dangerous Odds Against Black Africans In Austria

In a Vienna court on Wednesday 09 November 2005 the presiding Judge in the trail of the ten persons (6 police officers, 3 paramedics, and 1 physician) accused over the death on 15 July 2003, of a black African, Mr. Cheibani Wague from Mauritania, delivered his long-awaited verdict. Article by Chibo Onyeji

After eight hearings that belatedly began on 19 July 2005, and in spite of overwhelming evidence, Judge. Gerhard Pohnert on the ninth and final court session ruled that eight of the ten defendants were 'not guilty' as charged; that only two were 'guilty': one police officer and the ambulance physician: and then handed each a 7-month suspended prison sentence! But the problem was already with the indictment itself.

To accuse ten intelligent, professionally trained, white adults merely of 'manslaughter' in the death of a black African whose shackled (by them), inert, helpless body they brutalized to death even as they taunted him with racist slurs ('Filthy creature!', 'Swine!') is much revealing and terrifying. And it does not matter whether or not all of the accused actively participated in the brutalization. After all, the physician was found guilty on the grounds that he did nothing or not enough to save Mr. Wague's life.

The message of Judge Pohnert's ruling is clear though not surprising: In matters concerning black people in Austria law enforcement agents of the state are above the law and the system will always be there to back or rescue them. That a police officer was found guilty at all showed how overwhelming the evidence was against the police. Though clear, the message, however, is not surprising because events have been consistently illustrating it over the years.

In April of 2002, Judge Alexander Fiala of the Korneuburg court actually ruled that Mr. Marcus Omofuma, the 25 year old Nigerian who was suffocated to death by three armed, overbearing Austrian police officers was partly responsible for his death in an aircraft cabin in May1999. There, also, the evidence against the police was overwhelming. In August 2004, a 37 year old Nigerian inmate, Mr. Edwin Ndupu, died at the Stein penitentiary in the province of Lower Austria after special force troops of the prison security physically assaulted him on a massive scale, and then had a prison doctor inject him with a tranquilizer. And to add insult to injury, the Honourable Austrian Federal Minster of Justice, Ms. Karin Gastinger (Miklautsch), subsequently invited the assaulting troops and their commander to the Federal Ministry in Vienna and congratulated them with rewards of financial prize and awards of certificate-of-merit for a job well done! On the night of 14 April 2005, Dr. Di Tutu Bukasa, a Vienna resident and prominent activist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was brutally assaulted by six skinheads; nothing tangible came out of the numerous protests to and demands on the Minister of Interior and the system as a whole. On 4 October 2005, a young black fellow, Mr. Yankuba Ceesay from the Gambia died in mysterious circumstances in an isolated room of a Linz penitentiary. Still, nothing!

At this rate, it is doubtful that when Austria assumes the presidency of the EU in January 2006 issues such as 'fundamental human rights', and 'racism as a crime', will be among its priority concerns. This, for an otherwise beautiful country like Austria, will be extremely sad in itself. The claim by the Hon. Federal Minister of Interior, Ms. Liese Prokop that the recent France-type riots could not happen in Austria is hardly hope inspiring. By that she simply displayed a serious limitation of imagination. This is also extremely sad.

According to a confidential White Paper dated 19 October 2005, Austria's EU presidency will rather be focusing on negotiations about stabilization in the western Balkans. Such interest in countries which were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until World War I, is understandable. But, of course, it betrays a wistful melancholia of loss, and the hegemonic sentiments of intolerance and angst, which Austria's very tough stance against a possible Turkish entry into the EU, together with her demonstrated contempt for black people, confirms. The White Paper, unabashedly, suggests that this stance is to "preserve the European way of living against the backdrop of globalization." But what is this European way of life, which apparently is incapable of letting the truth prevail in the face of overwhelming evidence? Which whenever the evidence against the police is more likely to be overwhelming than not, any indictment brought against them, in matters concerning black people in Austria, must necessarily be trivial. Dangerous odds!

The defendants in the Cheibani Wague trial should have been charged with murder in the first place and not with 'manslaughter'. [...]

[  no-racism.net

Tod im Afrikadorf: Das Urteil ist gesprochen

9. November 2005

Am 9. November 2005 sprach Richter Pohnert das Urteil im Prozess wegen fahrlässiger Tötung von Seibane Wague (noch nicht rechtskräftig). Zwei der Angeklagten wurden zu sieben Monaten bedingter Haft verurteilt, die restlichen acht Angeklagten wurden freigesprochen!Das milde Urteil zeichnete sich schon im Laufe des Verfahrens ab. Nie war davon auszugehen, dass die Verantwortichen zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden. Und nun steht es fest:

Der Notarzt und ein Polizist (er hatte Seibane Wague mit seinem ganzen Körpergewicht über lange Zeit belastet) wurden wegen fahrlässiger Tötung zu sieben Monaten bedingter Haft (noch nicht rechtskräftig) verurteilt. Die restlichen Angeklagten wurden freigesprochen. Unter anderem, weil es keine entsprechenden Schulungen gegeben hätte und sich die BeamtInnen "schulungskonform" verhalten hatten.Mit anderen Worten: Die Amtshandlung war zwar rechtswidrig, wie der Unabhängige Verwaltungssenat (UVS) und der Verwaltungsgerichtshof (VwGH) erkannten, jedoch können die Angeklagten nichts für ihr Verhalten, da sie es ja nicht besser wissen konnten.

[  http://no-racism.net/article/1445/

Reaktionen auf das Urteil:

[  Stellungnahme der Plattform Gerechtigkeit für Seibane Wague

[  Afrikanet: Reaktionen der African Community und engagierten Menschen

[  ai zum Tod von Cheibani Wague: Eklatante Mängel bei Polizeiausbildung

[  Austria: Court delivers verdict in the case of Cheibani Wague / AI London

[  Pressespiegel

[  Reaktionen von politischen Parteien

[  Strafprozess wegen Tötung von Seibane Wague, 9. November 2005, Urteilsverkündung / Mitschrift

[  Zum Tod von Seibane Wague

[  Killing of Seibane Wague in Vienna on 15 July 2003

[  Schwere Vorwürfe gegen Polizei und Rettung nach dem Tod von Seibane Wague

24. November 2005

INDIA

angeblicher suizid eines mannes im knast in kannur / kerala

`Ripper' Chacko found dead in prison cell

KANNUR: A prisoner undergoing life sentence in the Central Jail here was found dead inside his cell on Thursday. The prisoner has been identified as Chacko alias Kuriakose alias `Ripper' Chacko (59) of Rajakad Josegiri in Idukki district. The body was found hanging on a plastic rope tied to a ventilator in his cell in block number 10 in the jail. He was suspected to have committed suicide. Chacko had been undergoing life term in three murder cases, including two cases in Kottayam and one in Kozhikode. The body was taken to Pariyaram Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination.

[  hindu.com

18 November 2005

INDONESIA

am 15. oktober wurde ein 51 jähriger mann in jakarta von der militärpolizei festgenommen, und so schwer gefoltert daß er am 17. oktober starb.

INDONESIA: Torture; illegal arrest and detention; rule of law

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Perhimpunan Bantuan Hukum dan Hak Asasi Manusia Jakarta (PBHI Jakarta), a human rights organization in Jakarta, Indonesia that a 51-year-old man, Bagus Ariyanto, died after he was brutally tortured by a group of army officers attached to the Detachment Supplies and Transportation Jaya Raya 44-12, TNI AD (Denhar 44-12, TNI AD) from 15 to 16 October 2005. Bagus was arrested from his village in Tambak Street, Central Jakarta on October 15 on suspicion that he stole a bicycle owned by an army officer. He was then taken to the detachment. According to residents living close to the detachment, they saw Bagus stripped naked, forced by the officers to do push ups, run and other exhausting physical movement. He was also seen tied to a pillar.

On October 16, Bagus was picked-up by his relatives at the detachment. The military officers demanded Rp. 270,000.00 Indonesian rupiah (USD 27) from them before they released Bagus as payment for the bicycle. Bagus was in poor condition and his body had traces of severe injuries. He could not even walk properly. Bagus died in his home the next day. Bagus' relatives were not able to bring him to a hospital for treatment because they had no money.

After he was buried on October 18, the station commander of the Detachment Supplies and Transportation Jaya Raya went to the relatives of the victim. The commander handed over Rp 1,200,000 (USD 120) to them and demanded that they sign a letter stating they would not file charges. They received the money and signed the statement because they were promised an investigation.

This is yet another case of victims being arrested illegally, illegally detained and tortured while in custody of government forces occurring in Indonesia. The AHRC recently reported the torture of a man over mistaken identity (UA-210-2005). He was not afforded medical treatment and compensation. In most cases, efforts are being made by high ranking officials to conceal the incident.

We urge your strong intervention to pressure the concerned government agencies in Indonesia, in particular the Office of the Military Police to ensure that criminal charges are filed against the perpetrators before a court of law. The army officers of the Detachment Supplies and Transportation Jaya Raya, including its station commander, must be investigated to look into allegations of bribing the victim's relatives for them not to pursue cases. Charges must be filed against any army officers if allegations are true that there was conspiracy to hush up the case.

Further, please also ask that protection and appropriate assistance to the victim's relatives is also afforded in pursuing their case in court. They must be free of harassment and intimidation, including those witnesses to the crime who will surface, in seeking justice for the victim in prosecuting the perpetrators. Any action taken in this case must be in accordance with the provisions of the Convention against Torture (CAT), of which the Indonesia government is a state party. Domestic legislation must be introduced in Indonesia to make acts of torture a criminal offense without delay.

[  ahrchk.net

16 November 2005

ARGENTINA

32 Häftlinge bei Meuterei getötet

Buenos Aires (rpo). Bei einer Meuterei in einem argentinischen Gefängnis sind 32 Häftlinge ums Leben gekommen. Die Gefangenen wollten ihre Forderungen nach längeren Besuchszeitungen duchsetzen, indem sie Matratzen und Decken in Brand setzen. Viele der Häftlinge erlitten Kohlenmonoxid-Vergiftungen und erstickten. Wie die Behörden am Sonntag mitteilten, ereignete sich die Meuterei in der Nacht in der Haftanstalt von Magdalena, 120 Kilometer südöstlich von Buenos Aires. Die Häftlinge hatten nach den ersten Ermittlungen Matratzen und Decken in Brand gesetzt, um ihrer Forderung nach längeren Besuchszeiten an einem Feiertag Nachdruck zu verleihen. Die meisten Opfer erstickten den Angaben zufolge durch Kohlenmonoxid-Vergiftungen. Sechs Menschen wurden verletzt, darunter ein Mitarbeiter des Jutizvollzugs.

Die Häftlinge seien nicht durch Gewaltanwendung ums Leben gekommen, sondern erstickt, sagte der Regnionalminister von Buenos Aires, Eduardo Di Rocco. Einige Vollzugsbeamte bekamen Schläge ab. Im Laufe des Tages habe die Gefängnisleitung die Kontrolle über das Gefängnis zurückgewonnen. Das Feuer griff nach den Schilderungen von Angehörigen der Häftlinge auf mehrere Trakte des Gefängnisses über. Die Haftsanstalt in Magdalena ist auf 3000 Gefangene ausgelegt.

[  rp-online.de

9. November 2005

BURMA / MYANMAR

ein 37 jähriger mann der wegen angeblicher kontakte zu illegalen organisationen im rangoon insein knast inhaftiert war, ist dort am 5. november angeblich an ruhr / cholera gestorben.

Another Burmese political prisoner dies in detention

Aung Myint Thein from Rangoon Shwepaukkan New Town, who was arrested and imprisoned for allegedly having contacts with the exiled outlawed Federation of the Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB), died in the notorious Rangoon Insein Jail on 5 November. Although the real reason of his death is not known, the prison authorities came to inform his family members on the same day that Aung Myint Thein died from dysentery/cholera, but they are still not allowed to see his remains or bury him.

37-year old Aung Myint Thein from Ward ? 12 was said to be in a healthy condition before he was arrested on 2 July and charged with political act ? 5J for having contacts with "illegal" organisations and Act ? 17/1. His family members are said to be suspicious of the circumstance of death, as he died suddenly while he was tried behind closed doors in the prison, just before he was about to be sentenced.

His relatives are planning to hold a commemorative religious ceremony for him on the coming Saturday, a week after his death and they are requesting the authorities to return his remains before the day. Aung Myint Thein is the fourth Burmese prisoner to have died during detention in 2005. The other three are; Aung Hlaing Win from Rangoon Mayanggone Township, Min Tun Wai from Mon State Kyaikmayaw Township and Saw Stanford from Taguseik Village, Einme Township in Irrawaddy Division, who was killed during a heavy-handed session of interrogation by soldiers.

[  dvb.no

9. November 2005

USA

der am 4. november festgenommene wärter wurde jetzt angeklagt, dem am 2. november gestorbenen gefangenen "verbotenen substanzen" gegebn zu haben.

Inmate death brings jailer drug charges

Prosecutors charged a Tipton County jailer with providing OxyContin to an inmate who later was found dead. The jailer, Thomas D. Owens Jr., 24, was being held Tuesday on $100,000 bond in the Howard County Jail in Kokomo on charges that included two felony counts of trafficking controlled substances. An initial hearing was scheduled for today.

Owens was arrested last week after the death of inmate Joshua Lee Maine. Indiana State Police investigating Maine?s death said they found evidence that the jailer had been trafficking with inmates, although it was not clear whether the alleged contraband might be linked with Maine?s death. In documents filed Monday in Tipton Circuit Court, prosecutors said Owens told investigators that Maine?s girlfriend had given Xanax and OxyContin to him and asked him to deliver the drugs to Maine, who was being held on public intoxication and trespassing charges. Owens admitted to delivering drugs and other items to inmates in return for money, prosecutors said. Maine, 21, of Sharpsville, died at a hospital Nov. 2 after jail staff found him unconscious in his cell and were unable to revive him.

An autopsy found no obvious signs of trauma and did not reveal the cause of death, Tipton County Coroner Bob Nichols said. Toxicology test results would not be available for three to four weeks, he said. Owens has been employed as a jail guard since February and has no previous disciplinary incidents.

[  fortwayne.com

8. November 2005

USA

ein mitglied der jewish defence leaque , einer fundamentalistischen jüdischen gruppe die 1968 von meir kahane gegründet wurde, ist im bundesknast in phoenix / arizona angegriffen und dabei so schwer verletzt worden daß er starb. Das fbi ermittelt.

U.S. jail death of Jewish activist probed

The killing of a Jewish Defense League leader in a Phoenix prison just days after his transfer from Los Angeles is being investigated by the FBI. Earl Krugel, 62, of Reseda, Calif., was struck on the head with a concrete block Friday, and was pronounced dead at the scene, The Washington Times reported Tuesday.

Now, Krugel`s former attorney, Mark Werksman is questioning why Krugel had been transferred to the Arizona prison after being held in protective custody at Los Angeles` federal Metropolitan Detention Center since his 2001 arrest. 'There were death threats against him precisely because he was a militant Jewish activist,' he said. Sentenced in September to 20 years for one count of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of worshippers at a mosque and one count of carrying an explosive device, Krugel had been at the medium-security prison for three days when the attack occurred. The JDL, which says it has 13,000 members, was founded in 1968 in New York by Rabbi Meir Kahane as an armed response to anti-Semitism.

[  monstersandcritics.com

Jewish extremist killed in jail

6. november 2005

A Jewish extremist who plotted to blow up a mosque in California and the office of a US-Lebanese congressman has been killed in jail.

Earl Krugel, 62, died after an assault on Friday at the federal prison in Phoenix, Arizona, the FBI said. A spokesman said that a homicide investigation had been launched, without giving any further details. Krugel - a Jewish Defence League member - was jailed for 20 years in September after admitting the plot charges. Krugel's wife, Lola, said FBI investigators told her an inmate had struck her husband on the head from behind with a cement block, the AP news agency reported. "Earl never saw it happening. He was exercising," she said. Krugel was arrested in 2001 with another leader of the Jewish Defence League, Irv Rubin, who died in jail in an apparent suicide.

Bomb plot

FBI agents arrested Krugel and Rubin at their homes in November 2001. Investigators seized bomb-making equipment they believed was destined to be used in an attack on the King Fahd mosque in Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles. The pair were charged in December 2001 with conspiring to bomb the mosque and send explosives to the offices of Congressman Darrell Issa, who is of Lebanese Christian descent. Krugel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the civil rights of worshippers at the mosque and to a weapons charge linked to the plot against the congressman.

In return, he was to escape trial on more serious charges related to the bomb conspiracy. The plot was discovered before any blasts took place. The Jewish Defence League was founded in 1968 by a far-right US rabbi, Meir Kahane, who advocated the expulsion of all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990.

[  bbc.co.uk

4. November 2005

USA

ein 21 jähriger mann der bewußtlos in einer zelle im tipton county knast / indiana gefunden wurde, ist am 2. november im krankenhaus gestorben. Bei der autopsie gab es keine erklärung für die todesursache, die toxikologische untersuchung dauert 3- 4 wochen. Ein wärter wurde festgenommen weil er schmuggelware in den knast brachte. Ob es einen zusammenhang gibt ist nicht klar.

Jail Inmate Found Dead in Tipton Co.

Police arrested a Tipton County jailer on charges of trafficking contraband after an inmate was found dead. Thomas Owens was being held yesterday on $100,000 bond in the Howard County jail in Kokomo on a felony charge of trafficking contraband. The County Sheriff says it was not clear if there was a connection between the trafficking and the death. Tipton County Coroner Bob Nichols said an autopsy yesterday on inmate Joshua Lee Maine at a Muncie hospital found no obvious signs of trauma and did not reveal the cause of death. He said toxicology test results will not be available for 3 to 4 weeks. Maine, a 21 year old Sharpsville man, was found unconscious in his cell Wednesday. Jail staff members were unable to revive him.

[  wishtv.com

1. november 2005

KYRGYSTAN

4 männer wurden bei der erstürmung von zwei knästen getötet.

4 Prisoners Die as Kyrgyz Troops Quell Jail Disorders

Special forces soldiers stormed prisons in this Central Asian nation today, restoring at least the appearance of order to a federal penitentiary system that had partly slipped from government control last month. Four prisoners were killed, the authorities said.

Two inmates died in a clash between government forces and prisoners loyal to a crime boss who, the authorities said, had operated with near impunity inside Prison No. 31 here. The crime boss, Aziz Batukayev, was ultimately captured, the authorities said, and was moved to the headquarters of Kyrgyzstan's successor to the Soviet K.G.B., the state security agency. Two more prisoners were killed in an uprising at a prison in the nearby village of Petrovka, according to an official from the Prosecutor General's office.

The violence highlighted anew the challenges faced by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who came to power this year after the ouster of an exhausted post-Soviet government. Three members of Parliament have been killed since June, and accusations of government associations with the criminal underworld are rampant. Prison No. 31 had been under the control of its inmates since Oct. 20, when a member of Parliament, Tynychbek Akmatbayev, and three other visiting government delegates were killed during a prison visit, the authorities said. The jail is 15 miles from the capital, Bishkek.

After the deaths, Mr. Akmatbayev's brother, also a reputed crime figure and a rival of Mr. Batukayev's, organized a four-day protest outside Parliament. President Bakiyev later promised a full investigation. But even as the idea of an investigation circulated, Mr. Batukayev, the reputed criminal kingpin in the prison, had arranged a comfortable residence inside the penitentiary's walls. It included a two-story, fully furnished apartment, according to the official in the prosecutor's office.

From there, Mr. Batukayev received visitors, including women, they said, and conducted business as he saw fit, including exerting some influence over inmates at other penitentiaries. "Batukayev could receive anybody he wanted," the deputy prosecutor general, Abibolla A. Abdukhadirov, said. But the crime boss's fortunes changed this morning. Witnesses said six trucks loaded with masked soldiers arrived about 7 a.m., along with two armored vehicles. A brief battle ensured. According to Mr. Abdukhadirov, the prisoners shot at the special forces first. This version of events, however, could not be independently confirmed.

Fourteen prisoners, three women visitors, and a guard dog were in Mr. Batukayev's building when the special forces arrived, the authorities said. Two prisoners were killed, and the new head of the prison services was shot and injured, along with an unspecified number of prisoners. Hours after the clash, a burned prison truck was visible outside the main gate. Witnesses said it had been seized by prisoners and then attacked by an armored vehicle. Bloody clothing and spent tear-gas-mask canisters littered an area where relatives of Mr. Batukayev said they had seen him taken away by the police.

The government forces also said they had confiscated two Kalashnikov assault rifles, four handguns, four hand grenades, and a large amount of drugs and money. One other prison uprising was subdued at the same time in Petrovka, where two inmates died, and there were unconfirmed reports of police action at other prisons as well. Mr. Batukayev's sister-in-law, Raisa Kaayeva, blamed President Bakiyev for the latest violence, accusing him of taking sides in a dispute between crime figures. She predicted more violence. "This was completely without precedent," Ms. Kaayeva said, asserting that prisoners nationwide supported Mr. Batukayev. "All the people in prison are now waiting for a protest. Now, if they get out, it will really be a war."

[  nytimes.com

29. Oktober 2005

USA

Aus bisher noch "ungeklärten gründen" ist ein 26 jähriger kurz nach seiner verhaftung im fayette county knast / kentucky gestorben.

Inmate Dies in Custody

An inmate dies shortly after being taken into custody. The Fayette County coroner says 26-year old Joseph Hill, Jr. died around 2:30 Friday afternoon after police brought him in to the Fayette County Detention Center on trespassing charges. Authorities tell Action News 36 that Hill started convulsing and collapsed about five minutes after a picture was taken of him. Hill was transported to UK hospital and died shortly after arriving. Police also tell us one of the people brought into the detention center along with Hill told authorities they saw him swallow a quarter ounce of cocaine in a baggie. However, the coroner has not ruled on a cause of death. An autopsy may be completed as early as today.

[  wtvq.com

22. Oktober 2005

USA

angeblicher suizid eines 34 jährigen mannes im mineral county knast / west virginia.

State Police investigating death at Detention Center

Within hours after the apparent suicide of an inmate in the Mineral County Detention Center Thursday, the body was transported to Charleston for an autopsy. West Virginia State Law mandates that any deaths while in the custody of the state or county, the body has to undergo an autopsy by the Chief Medical Exa

Although information was released that Johnnie Peacemaker, 34, of Keyser had committed suicide inside a cell block at the Center, the death has to be determined by the Examiner. Peacemaker was found dead in his cell block with a belt placed around his neck, tied to an above bunk, according to a press release by Mineral County Sheriff's Department. It is customary, but not mandatory, according to West Virginia State Police Lt. Col. Tucker, Charleston, that clothing be removed from an inmate and the inmate be clothed in what is referred to as a jumpsuit (an orange one-piece suit worn by prisoners). However, according to Mineral County Medical Examiner, Chris Guynn, Peacemaker was in street clothing. Guynn said he arrived on the scene Thursday at 4:45 p.m. His job was to first determine the time of death. "He was pronounced dead at the jail," Guynn commented. According to the Sheriff's press release, the death occurred sometime between 3-4 p.m.

Guynn said as is customary to first determine the time of death, then "we take inventory of clothing and personal items, make sure the body is secured and locked in a body bag. That way it assures there is no tampering with the body until it arrives at the Chief Medical Examiner's Office," Guynn explained. This is the procedure generally in cases that require forensic evidence which is obtained from an autopsy. "It's important that we preserve as much as possible for the forensic pathologist, he is the one that ultimately issues the certificate for the manner in which the person died," Guynn said. The body was transported to Charleston by Fraley Funeral Home, Moorefield. "We released the body to Fraley for transport," Guynn said. According to the press release from the Sheriff's Department, Peacemaker was last heard at 3:07. His cell block has a TV monitor, and according to Deputy Chris Leatherman, Peacemaker appeared to be lying down asleep in a bunk.

During the day, according to the Sheriff's report, Peacemaker had been escorted numerous times to a garage area where he was allowed to smoke. His body was discovered when deputies went to his cell block to transport him to the regional jail in Augusta. Peacemaker was being held on bond for a third-offense domestic battery. West Virginia State Police is investigating the death.

[  newstribune.info

21. October 2005

UNITED KINGDOM

in den letzten 12 jahren wurden 30 menschen von polizisten erschossen. Angeklagt oder verurteilt wurde keiner.

Shot dead by police 30. Officers convicted 0
No charges for policemen who killed man carrying table leg

The Attorney General was accused of bowing to political pressure last night after it emerged that no police officer will be prosecuted for shooting dead a man armed with a wooden table leg. The killing of Harry Stanley, a painter and decorator from east London, raises concern about whether the criminal justice system is capable of holding police officers to account for shooting dead members of the public. In the past 12 years no police officer has been successfully prosecuted for any of the 30 fatalities caused by police marksmen.

Concern over police officers' accountability for their use of firearms has been heightened by the controversy surrounding the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Underground station in London on 22 July. The Brazilian was shot dead after marksmen wrongly suspected he was a suicide bomber.

Last night, human rights campaigners accused the Crown Prosecution Service of giving the police immunity in gun death cases, while Mr Stanley's widow said she was "devastated" at the outcome of the inquiry. The Justice for Harry Stanley campaign said: "The CPS and the Attorney General have illustrated very clearly that the police not only have the right to shoot to kill, but they will be afforded total immunity from prosecution. This is clearly the most serious attack not just on the Stanley family but a warning to all the other families whose loved ones are shot dead, while going about their everyday business." Lawyers for the family and the group Inquest said they suspected the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, may have influenced the decision not to bring charges against any officers.

Goldsmith's input may have influenced or determined the final decision". He added: "What we know is that there was dialogue between the DPP and the Attorney General and a lot of to-ing and fro-ing before the family and police were told of the decision." Deborah Coles, a co-director of Inquest, said: "You must ask whether or not there is a political policy at play in these cases and whether there was a political context in which this particular decision was made."

Last night, the Attorney General denied there was any political interference in the decision. A spokesperson for the Attorney General said: "The decision not to prosecute was taken by an experienced Crown Prosecution Service lawyer on the advice of leading counsel and was reviewed and approved by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Attorney General was consulted and agreed with the CPS decision. It is absolutely wrong and misleading to suggest that there was any political influence. It is standard practice for the DPP to consult the Attorney in high-profile or complex cases."

The death of Mr Stanley, 46, from Hackney, east London, has become one of the most controversial police shootings of modern times. The unarmed father-of-three was shot in the head and hand on a London street in September 1999 while walking home after a table leg he had in a bag was mistaken for a gun. Chief Inspector Neil Sharman, 42, and PC Kevin Fagan, 38, firearms officers with the Metropolitan Police, were arrested in June this year on suspicion of murder, gross negligence, manslaughter and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and bailed in connection with the case. The arrests followed new forensic evidence that contradicted the officers' accounts of the shooting and indicated that Mr Stanley was shot while facing away from the marksmen. The two officers told an inquest in 2004 that Mr Stanley had turned around "in a slow, deliberate, fluid motion" and pointed his wrapped-up table leg at PC Fagan, adopting a classic firing posture. This prompted Ch Insp Sharman to open fire, hitting Mr Stanley in the head.

A forensic scientist found that Mr Stanley had been shot in the rear side of his head - which indicated that he was not facing the officers at the point of impact. A bullet hole had also gone through the back of Mr Stanley's jacket, through the shoulder, suggesting he had his back turned on the officers. Mr Stanley was shot dead after someone telephoned the police and told them they had seen an Irishman with a sawn-off shotgun in a bag. Mr Stanley, who was originally from Lanarkshire, Scotland, was carrying a blue plastic bag with a coffee-table leg inside, which had been repaired by his brother.

The inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing, which was overturned in the High Court. The CPS, however, decided yesterday that there was "insufficient evidence" to bring any charges against the officers. Two specialists, one hired by the Police Federation, the other by Surrey Police, the investigating force, said the forensic evidence did not prove that the officers were lying.

In a statement issued yesterday the CPS said there was not enough evidence to rebut the officers' accounts that they were acting in self-defence. The CPS did, however, say it was "arguable that the officers' haste and lack of planning led them to breach their duty of care to Mr Stanley and cause his death". After yesterday's decision not to bring charges, the dead man's widow promised to "keep fighting" for justice for her husband. Irene Stanley, who is consulting lawyers about a possible challenge to the CPS decision in the High Court and the European Court of Human Rights, said: " What happened today was an injustice. I am devastated by it, though I half expected it. I am going to keep fighting but can't say more until I receive legal advice. I am also disgusted that I first heard of the CPS decision at 7.30am because of a leak to a tabloid newspaper."

Ms Coles said public confidence in the criminal justice system would be severely undermined. She said it now appeared that British justice " puts police officers above the law". She added: "At a time when there is a massive increase of the number of armed police on our streets, it is imperative that the public have confidence in their ability to act professionally and safely."

The 30 victims

JEAN CHARLES DE MENEZES, 27 Shot dead by police on 22 July 2005 after being mistaken for a suicide bomber. PROSECUTIONS: Officers suspended until the investigation result is published.

PHILIP PROUT, 53 Shot by a police marksman after a baton gun failed to fire, in Cornwall in May 2004. PROSECUTIONS: The CPS decided there was insufficient evidence to charge the officers.

DEREK BENNETT, 29 In July 2001, police shot him four times in the back in Brixton, south London. He had been holding a gun-shaped cigarette lighter to a man's head. PROSECUTIONS: CPS found insufficient evidence to prosecute.

JAMES ASHLEY, 39 Shot during a police drugs raid on his house in Sussex in 1998. Ashley was unarmed, naked and with his girlfriend. PROSECUTIONS: Officer who fired the shot found not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

CRAIG KING, 32 Bouncer from Greater Manchester was shot by police on 11 September this year. PROSECUTIONS: No officers have been charged.

JOHN SCOTT, 42 Killed in Northumberland in July after he fired a gun as police broke up a disturbance. PROSECUTIONS: None

AZELLE RODNEY, 24 Shot in Edgware in April after bullets were fired into car of suspected drug dealers. PROSECUTIONS: None

SIMON MURDEN, 26 Killed in Hull in March after brandishing a sword. PROSECUTIONS: None

KEITH LARKINS, 33 Former mental patient shot in June at Heathrow after brandishing a blank pistol at police. PROSECUTIONS: None

DAVID EWIN, 38 Former robber killed in London in March 1995 in a stolen car. PROSECUTIONS: Officer tried and cleared of murder.

NICHOLAS PALMER, 23 Shot by police in south London in 2004. Failed to answer bail after arrest on arms offences. PROSECUTIONS: None

COLIN O'CONNOR, 39 Thief shot in 2003 in Bedfordshire after being caught with a pistol in a stolen Jaguar. PROSECUTION: None

FOSTA THOMPSON, 20 Jamaican shot in Bristol after defying police in 2002. PROSECUTION: None

JASON GIFFORD, 27 Shot in 2002 in Aylesbury after he confronted officers with a sword and shotgun PROSECUTION: None

MICHAEL MALSBURY, 62 shot in 2001 running out of his house in Harrow firing at police. PROSECUTION: None

STEVEN DICKSON, 30 Shot in 2001 waving a home-made shotgun in Derbyshire. PROSECUTION: None

ANDREW KERNAN, 37 Schizophrenic with sword shot in Liverpool in 2001. PROSECUTION: None

PATRICK O'DONNELL, 19 Killed in 2000 after taking his mother and girlfriend hostage in north London. PROSECUTION: None

KIRK DAVIES, 30 Former soldier was shot in West Yorkshire in September 2000 after he threatened an officer with an air rifle. PROSECUTION: None

HARRY STANLEY, 46 Shot by police in 1999. PROSECUTION: None

DEREK BATEMAN, 47 Shot in Surrey in 1999 after girlfriend told officers he was armed and was threatening to shoot her, or himself. PROSECUTION: None

ANTONY KITTS, 20 Shot in Falmouth in 1999, threatening police with an air rifle thought to be a shotgun. PROSECUTIONS: None

MICHAEL FITZGERALD, 32 Shot in Bedford in 1998 aiming a replica Colt 45 at police. PROSECUTIONS: None

DAVID HOWELL, 41 Psychiatric patient shot in 1996 at a Co-op supermarket. PROSECUTIONS: None

DIARMUID O'NEILL, 27 Unarmed IRA suspect shot in raid in west London. PROSECUTIONS: None

JAMES BRADY, 21 Shot in 1995 in police ambush at village near Newcastle. PROSECUTIONS: None

ROBERT DIXON, 45 Wild West fan fired at police, but gun may have been replica. PROSECUTIONS: None

DAVID STONE, 35 Killed in 1993, carrying pistol in north London. PROSECUTIONS: None

IAN HAY, 39 Mentally ill farmer shot in Devon in 1993 after police tried to investigate gunshot reports. PROSECUTIONS: None

DAVID LUCKHURST, 46 Publican in Hertfordshire shot in 1993 after he fired rifle at officers in siege at home. PROSECUTIONS: None

[  independent.co.uk

21 Oktober 2005

INDIA

ein 28 jähriger mann wurde nach seiner verhaftung von der polizei so sehr verprügelt, daß er an seinen verletzungen starb.

INDIA: Torture; custodial death; impunity; police misconduct; rule of law

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the death of a 28-year-old man, Mr. Udayakumar, who was severely beaten by policemen who arrested him at a park in Sreekanteswaram, Kerala, India on 27 September 2005.

It was learned that Mr. Udayakumar was arrested together with his companion, Mr. Mani, because of their suspicious movements at the park. The police then took them to the Fort police station in Thiruvanandapuram. Mr. Udayakumar was severely beaten after he and Mr. Mani could not properly explain to the police where they had got Rs. 4000 (USD 88), which was in their possession. Although three of the alleged perpetrators, identified as Mr. Jitu Kumar, Mr. Sreekumar and Mr. Soma have been suspended from their duty, no sanctions have been taken so far against their senior police officers regarding this matter. Furthermore, although the State Human Rights Commission in Kerala has registered a complaint of custodial death and has called for a report from the City Police Commissioner of Thiruvananthapuram, the case has shown little progress.

We request your intervention to pressure the concerned government agencies in Kerala to take appropriate action on Mr. Udayakumar's case. The Indian government must adhere to the provisions of Part III, Article 6 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) of which it is state party.

[  ahrchk.net

21. Oktober 2005

IRELAND

angeblicher suizid eines mannes, der mitglied der continuity ira gewesen sein soll, in seiner zelle im hochsicherheitsknast portlaoise .

Continuity IRA prisoner found dead in jail

Gardaí were investigating today after a dissident republican terrorist was found hanged in his cell in the high security Portlaoise Prison. The Continuity IRA man from Limerick was found dead by prison officers at around 11am. A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service the 35-year-old inmate was discovered hanged in a metal wardrobe in his single cell hours after prison staff had unlocked his cell door. He was found by another prisoner. The spokesman said medical staff were called to the cell but the man was pronounced dead. Gardaí were also notified and are carrying out an investigation.

The Governor of Portlaoise Prison T.J. Walsh has also launched an inquiry into the death. The Limerick man had been jailed for five years in February for firearms offences after gardaí raided a terrorist training camp in the Comeragh Mountains in Waterford. Rifles, shotguns, ammunition, balaclavas, combat gear and a makeshift firing range were uncovered in the swoop. Eight other men found at the camp were also jailed for between four and six years. The men were in possession of two lawfully held rifles with telescopic sights, one lawfully held shotgun and one unlawfully held sawn-off shotgun which had been stolen in a burglary in 1999, as well as balaclavas, combat gear and equipment used for target practice.

[  breakingnews.iol.ie

19. Oktober 2005

USA

noch ungeklärter tod eines 55 jähriger mannes im colbert county knast / alabama.

Shoals inmate dies in jail

Fifty-five-year-old Robert Lipscomb was arrested late last week. He was charged with attempted burglary. But when wardens at the Colbert County Jail checked his cell this morning, he was dead. Colbert County Sheriff Ronnie May says his employee frantically reported the Lipscomb wasn't breathing. He was found just before 4:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. How he died is under investigation but May speculates medical problems associated with drinking alcohol. The Alabama Bureau of Investigation has been called in to help and agents have ordered an autopsy.

[  waff.com

10. Oktober 2005

USA

angeblicher suizid eines 26 jährigen mannes im west county knast / kalifornien

Jail death an apparent suicide

A prisoner died Saturday at West County Jail after apparently hanging himself in a cell, Contra Costa sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said. The victim, 26-year-old Richmond resident Som Sivalay, was arrested Friday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon by Richmond police and booked into County Jail in Martinez. Deputies transferred Sivalay to West County Jail on Saturday afternoon, Lee said. Deputies counting prisoners in one area of the jail found Sivalay was missing, then found him hanged with bedding material in his cell at 9:47 p.m. Authorities could not revive him, and he was pronounced dead at 10:05 p.m. Contra Costa sheriff's detectives are investigating, Lee said, but the case appears to be suicide.

[  mercurynews.com

7. Oktober 2005

UZBEKISTAN

bereits am 14. september starb ein mann an den folgen der folter in einem knast in tashkent.

UZBEK Imam Dies in Jail Amid Allegations of Torture

Jailed Muslim cleric, Shavkat Madumarov, 27, has died in custody in Uzbekistan. His father says he was tortured and injected with a lethal disease. Uzbek police and prison authorities have not reacted to the allegations. The family says the imam died in a detention center in Tashkent on September 14, three days after a court sentenced him to seven years in jail for extremism and anti-constitutional activities. The family insists he was in good health before his arrest. During the trial the imam told the court that he was given injections of unspecified medicines in the jail. His father says he is certain he was injected with the HIV virus. Human rights groups have persistently accused Uzbek authorities of torture in prisons. Uzbek officials say they are working to eliminate the practice.

[  voanews.com

6. Oktober 2005

AUSTRIA

Linz: Hunger-strike refugee died

A young detained African asylum seeker who had been on hunger strike since 28 Sep 2005 died on Tuesday, 04 Oct 2005 in his cell.

The man, whose asylum application had been rejected, was in detention awaiting deportation. Detained since 12 Sep 2005, he started with his hungerstrike on 28th of September 2005 to fight for freedom. He died about two hours after a medical check at a hospital.

Christian Grufeneder, a police officer in the Upper Austrian city of Linz, said that he become "aggressive" while a blood sample was taken. "Because he was on hunger strike, he received medical attention every day," Grufeneder said. "A human rights group also visited him."

Whether the man could have been so weakened by the hunger strike that it died, the police speaker did not want to judge. "He could go without strange assistance into the hospital and did not have to be supported on Tuesday morning."

The police told further, that the man kicked a nurse with his feet. He was taken back to the police holding centre and locked into a so called "safety cell" (Sicherungszelle).

The police told, that in the "safety cell" the situation was checked every 30 minutes. At 12:50 pm an officer found him unconscious and called an emergency physician. The reactivation of the lifeless body was unsuccessful. The doctor determined the man was dead. A post mortem sould be carried out on Wednesday (05 Oct 2005), Grufeneder said. Even if the prisoner was beaten before its death, that the autopsy to show, Grufeneder is convinced.

An abusing is not to be excluded. In the current report of the anti-torture committee of the Council of Europe (ECRE) explicitly the police in the city of Linz is listed in connection with flogs for suspicious ones specified. Exactly the same as the report of a thrust prisoner, who indicated, few weeks before attendance of the commission at hands and feet bound into a small single cell to have been put, because he had absorbed a battery. Quotation of the committee report: "the report of the on-duty official pointed out that, after he had been brought in the hospital the man was brought into a single cell, because he threatened suicide to commit and was aggressive."

Austrian law allows authorities to hold non-austrian citizens, for example asylum-seekers whose applications have been rejected, for up to six months (in a period of two years) to ensure the execution of a deportation. A new law, which will come into force in January 2006, allows the autorithies to arrest people up to ten months and also to apply forced feedings for hungerstrikers

[  no-racism.netno-racism.net

[  more information in german

6. Oktober 2005

NEPAL

nach zwei jahren haft ist ein journalist der als angeblicher maoistischer sympathisant unter dem public securtity gesetz inhaftiert war im krankenhaus von pokhara gestorben.

CPJ, RSF rap govt for Pahari's death

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) have voiced their outrage over the death of journalist Maheshwore Pahari in the regional hospital Pokhara Tuesday night, while under detention . RSF has even called on Representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ian Martin, to launch an investigation into Pahari's death to determine where the responsibility lies. It said that Pahari was in good health at the time of his arrest nearly two years ago.

Issuing separate statements Thursday, the global media rights groups have held the government responsible for the death of Pahari who was held on January 2, 2004. They have accused the government of denying proper medical treatment. The 32-year old employed with the local Swabhiman weekly, was briefly detained by the Royal Nepalese Army before being handed over to the police. A known Maoist sympathizer, Pahari was initially booked under Public Security Act and his whereabouts were unknown in the beginning. He was released in May and re-arrested immediately and booked under anti-terrorist legislation. He had been in detention since. "After jailing Pahari for his work as a journalist, Nepalese authorities have effectively carried out a death sentence by denying him proper medical treatment," said New York-based CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. "We hold authorities responsible for his death, and call for an independent investigation into the circumstances."

Similarly, the Paris-based RSF said, "The government has a clear responsibility in this young journalist's death." It added: "Held secretly for months, tortured and then put in an extremely overcrowded cell, Pahari is the latest victim of the security forces' criminal policy towards anyone suspected of sympathizing with the Maoist rebels." Besides, RSF has also demanded the government to immediately release three other journalists currently in prison - Tej Narayan Sapkota, Rupak Sapkota and Nagendra Upadhyay.

[  kantipuronline.com

1. oktober 2005

INDIA

ein unter der tada- gesetzgebung (terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) inhaftierter mann ist in einem knast in jehanabad gestorben.

TADA prisoner died in jail

A TADA prisoner Mahangu Choudhary died in Jehanabad sub-jail this afternoon. According to members of the Bandi Sangharsh Morcha, led by naxal outfits like the CPI (Maoist) and CPI-ML (Liberation), Mahangu died allegedly due to the negligence of jail authorities. In a press release, the Morcha demanded an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh, a government job for the deceased's family besides immediate probe into the death of the undertrial. If the demands are not met, the Morcha would be left with no option but to resort to indefinite strike inside the jail. Meanwhile, the district administration has assured to probe the death of the undertrial.

[  webindia123.com

30. September 2005

USA

4 wärter des von cca betriebenen knastes in nashville wurden wegen vorsätzlicher körperverletzung mit todesfolge inhaftiert. Die 4 wärter hatten eine 34 jährige frau 2004 lt. Autopsiebericht so verprügelt das sie an den folgen starb.

Nashville jail guards charged in death of female inmate

PRIVATE PRISON FIRM ALSO RUNS FACILITIES IN KENTUCKY

Four guards at a privately run jail have been indicted on reckless homicide charges accusing them of beating a female inmate to death.The indictment issued this week also charges the four guards with aggravated assault against Estelle Richardson, 34, who died in 2004. A medical examiner determined that she died of a skull fracture and had broken ribs and a damaged liver.

Corrections Corporation of America, which employs the four guards, said it has cooperated fully with the investigation. It said the four guards have been on administrative leave since Richardson's death.CCA is the largest for-profit prison operator in the United States and runs the Metro Nashville Detention Facility under a contract with the city and the county.

A police investigation found that the guards used excessive force on Richardson the day before she died. The guards acknowledged there was an altercation but said no excessive force was used.One of the guards indicted, William Wood, 27, who was in charge of the area where Richardson was housed, told The Tennessean newspaper that guards subdued Richardson with Mace and removed her from her cell so that it could be cleaned, but that he saw no one strike her.

CCA records show Richardson was separated from other inmates because she had fought with others. The records listed her as mentally deficient.The other guards arrested are Jeremy M. Neese, 25, Keith A. Hendricks, 37, and Joshua D. Schockman, 24. Their bail was set at $25,000.CCA also runs three prisons in Kentucky, including the Lee Adjustment Center, the site of a prison riot last year.

[  kentucky.com

28. September 2005

INDIA

angebl. Suizid eines mannes im varanasi central knast

Prisoner commits suicide in Varanasi

A prisoner in the Varanasi Central Jail allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself, the police said on Wednesday. The body of Mahendra Prasad Mahto, a resident of Champaran district in Bihar, was found hanging on Tuesday evening in barrack number one of Circle three, police said. Angry inmates initially refused to hand over his body to jail authorities, but later agreed after persuasion by district officials. Mahto had been sentenced to twelve years imprisonment by a fast track court, Gorakhpur, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act on December 23, 2004. He was shifted to the Central Jail here from Gorakhpur on March 12, 2005. DIG of the prison has ordered an enquiry into the incident.

[  indiatimes.com

27. September 2005

USA

6 x wurde mit einem taser auf einen 29 jährigen geschossen, wie die polizei jetzt nach dem der autopsiebericht erschienen ist, zugegeben hat.

Sheriff says inmate shocked six times before dying

An inmate who died after fighting with deputies at the Lancaster County jail had been shocked six times with a Taser, the sheriff's office confirmed.Maurice Cunningham, 29, died July 23 following a fight with the officers in which two deputies were stabbed in the eye with pencils.A deputy fired his Taser five times to paralyze Cunningham, Lt. Lee Blackmon said Monday. When the probes fell off and pepper spray didn't work, the officer fired a sixth shot.

Lancaster County Coroner Mike Morris previously ruled Cunningham's death was caused by the Taser. The coroner's office determined he had no illegal drugs or alcohol in his system when the fight occurred.The altercation began when the 6-foot, 160-pound Cunningham apparently tried to escape, Blackmon said.Cunningham had been in jail 10 months awaiting trial on a charge of assault and battery with intent to kill.Blackmon said deputies will continue to use Tasers. The department has used them since 2003 and gives officers annual training."The Taser has saved lives. We've had cases where officers were able to stop a suspect with a Taser instead of using deadly force," he said.

[  myrtlebeachonline.com

Coroner says Taser caused death in jail

24. september 2005

Inmate killed by stun-gun in fight with guards, Sheriff's Office says A Taser caused the death of a Lancaster County, S.C., jail inmate who collapsed during a fight with four officers in July, the Sheriff's Office confirmed Friday.

Sheriff's Office Lt. Lee Blackmon said his office learned this week that the coroner ruled Maury Cunningham, 29, died as a result of being struck with a Taser at least twice during the July 23 altercation. A Taser is a device that delivers a 50,000-volt shock to cause temporary paralysis.The Sheriff's Office had been waiting for the final autopsy report. Coroner Mike Morris couldn't be reached Friday.

Since June 1991, more than 130 people in the U.S. and Canada have died after being shocked with a Taser, according to Amnesty International, which has called for a Taser moratorium.But Amnesty spokesman Edward Jackson said the Cunningham case is only the second time a coroner or medical examiner has listed a Taser as the primary cause of death.Blackmon said officers did not mean for Cunningham to die. But he said his office stood by the decision to use the device. He said the officers were not armed and were unable to control Cunningham.

"The officers were faced with a ... situation where the inmate was trying to take their lives," Blackmon said. "If this had been on the street, in our opinion, the officers would have been justified in using a firearm."The Sheriff's Office has said the altercation began when Cunningham tried to escape from his cell, then stabbed two officers in the eyes with pencils. When a third officer tried to pull Cunningham off one of the injured officers, the fourth officer used the Taser and pepper spray, the Sheriff's Office has said.The coroner's office has said Cunningham didn't have illegal drugs or alcohol in his system.

Cunningham was in jail awaiting trial on a charge of assault and battery with intent to kill in connection with an incident in which an acquaintance was stabbed with a knife.The Sheriff's Office has declined to release the officers' names, citing officer safety. Three have returned to duty. Blackmon wasn't sure about the status of the fourth officer. The office and the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division are still investigating.Cunningham's family referred questions to its spokesman, John Barnett. He said the family has been eagerly anticipating the findings.

"Upset is an understatement. ... Our main concern is to make sure it never happens again," Barnett said. "Yes, those officers were hurt, but they're alive and still able to go home and eat Cheerios with their family."Barnett said the family plans to sue the Sheriff's Office, alleging excessive force.The coroner's ruling highlights an ongoing debate about Tasers, which have been controversial since departments began using them as an alternative to pepper spray or batons.

Police say Tasers reduce injuries to officers and suspects because they reduce the need for hands-on battles. But civil libertarians question whether the devices are safe. They've called on the federal government to test their safety."We think there's an enormous deficit in information on how these things really affect people," Amnesty's Jackson said.According to USA Today, the Department of Homeland Security's two largest law enforcement divisions have rejected the use of stun guns because of safety concerns.A spokesman for Taser International couldn't be reached Friday. The company has said the devices are safe.

[  charlotte.com

27. September 2005

USA

Untersuchungen in dem angebl. suizid eines mannes im barry county knast / missouri

Sheriff calls for investigation into suicide at Barry County jail

A team of investigators from outside Barry County will probe the Monday suicide of a jail inmate, found hanging from a bed sheet tied to a cell bar.Sheriff Dar Leaf said David L. Comp, 36, of Clinton Township, was discovered by corrections officers about 5:40 a.m., minutes after he is believed to have strapped the sheet to the metal bar.Comp had been in the jail since his Aug. 29 arrest for obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct. He was not on a suicide watch.

"He gave no indicators that he was going to do anything like this," Leaf said.Leaf said Comp was one of two people in an eight-person cell. The other inmate told authorities he wasn't aware Comp had hanged himself until he was found and jailers started resuscitation efforts. The jail's lights are turned off until 6 a.m., and it is unknown whether any other inmates had knowledge of Comp's activity.

Corrections officers are supposed to do hourly rounds to ensure inmate safety, and Leaf said he believes that regulation was followed. The department has made a request through the Michigan Sheriff's Association for a team of detectives from outside the county to investigate the death.That will avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, Leaf said."We're starting the investigation, and we want them to help maintain the integrity of the department and of the jail," he said. "That way, nobody can question what we did."

Comp was to appear in court Oct. 12, and officials are unsure what triggered his suicide.It comes two weeks after a Kent County Jail inmate, 19-year-old Jonathan McGonigle, killed himself, also using a sheet. McGonigle's suicide was the third at that jail this year, though the sheriff's department did not disclose the deaths of two of the inmates -- McGonigle and Terry LaLonde, 36 -- until questioned by a Press reporter. LaLonde died on Jan. 5.

Sheriff's officials did, however, release information when murder suspect Willie Burton committed suicide on Sept. 2. Sheriff Larry Stelma said he did not hide the earlier deaths but respected the families' wishes that he not reveal what happened inside the facility.Leaf, who issued a news release on the Monday suicide, said he didn't hesitate to inform the public."We're not trying to hide anything, and we find it necessary to release information when something like this happens," he said. "I consider it part of the job."

[  mlive.com

25. September 2005

USA

die familie einer frau die am 16. 5. 2003 tod in ihrer zelle im leon county knast / florida aufgefunden wurde, wird von der firma prison health service, die für die medizinische versorgung des knastes zuständig war, $ 350.000 als abfindung bekommen.Die frau starb weil sie mit einem antidepressivum überdosiert war.

Firm settles suit over jail death

The family of the late Ruth Hubbs, who died at the Leon County Jail infirmary, is being paid $350,000 by Prison Health Services, a company that oversees inmate care at the facility.

Hubbs, 39, was found dead in the infirmary May 16, 2003, about a day after deputies reported seeing her sitting on the floor of her jail cell and yelling incoherently to herself. Some correctional officers later reported the jail's medical workers seemed unconcerned about her condition.

An autopsy found she had an intoxicating level of an antidepressant in her system, but an investigation was unable to determine whether the jail's medical workers had given her too much medication.Last year, her parents filed a lawsuit against PHS, three of its employees and Sheriff Larry Campbell. The PHS employees named in the lawsuit were Susan Cole, the health-care administrator at the jail; Dr. William Primas, the staff doctor; and another physician who later was released from the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Hubbs died because she was overmedicated. The lawsuit states she was given increasing doses of the antidepressant Doxepin, and that PHS had a policy of rarely using a safer but more expensive medication."Hubbs objected to taking the medication," the lawsuit states, "and for at least two weeks before her death, Hubbs showed signs of being chronically overmedicated. Her attorney, a social worker and corrections officers made repeated complaints which were ignored by Prison Health Services, their agents and employees."

The lawsuit, which was filed in Leon County circuit court but later moved to federal court, resulted in a mediation session Aug. 24 and a subsequent settlement agreement. PHS agreed to pay all of the damages but did not admit liability. The Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, was not required to pay any damages.

Hubbs was arrested March 21, 2002, and charged with burglarizing a convenience store several times. At that time, she also was facing unrelated burglary and forgery charges, but she later was acquitted on the forgery charges.

She had pleaded no contest to the convenience-store burglaries but died a few days before sentencing. Her attorney, Steve Glazer, said in a previous interview he had arranged for her to begin a two-year treatment program at a mental hospital for bipolar disorder and drug addiction.

Chris Karpinski, a Tallahassee attorney who represented PHS in the lawsuit, said investigations by the Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found no criminal wrongdoing involved in Hubbs' death.

*Changes at the jail*

Two other inmates have died at the jail since Hubbs was found dead.

Clyde Fuller, 26, was found dead in the infirmary June 12, 2003, after being sprayed with pepper spray, placed in a restraint chair and injected with a sedative. According to a Sheriff's Office report, he had been screaming and spitting at staff members. An autopsy found cocaine in his system.

Steven Tomiano, 32, died after hanging himself with a sheet in his cell Oct. 31, 2004. An investigation determined no foul play occurred.After the first two deaths, Sheriff's Office officials began meeting with top PHS officials in an effort to improve medical care at the jail. Sheriff Larry Campbell said PHS officials were told that if medical care didn't improve dramatically, the jail would be looking for a new provider.

PHS implemented a number of improvements, Campbell said, including key personnel changes. Cole and Primas were replaced. Also, a medical-grievance committee was created to review complaints from inmates about their health care, and a medical hot line was set up for family members, friends and lawyers to call to express concerns to PHS staff.The company, based in Brentwood, Tenn., was the first to provide health care to prisoners. PHS and sister company Secure Pharmacy Plus provide medical care at more than 310 jails and prisons in 37 states.

PHS began providing medical care at the jail in 2002. This fiscal year, the Sheriff's Office paid PHS about $3.5 million to provide medical, mental-health and dental care. Between 90 and 100 inmates visit the jail clinic every day.Campbell said that while he once was very unhappy with PHS' performance, he now is satisfied that inmates are receiving proper medical care. He also is satisfied with the outcome of the lawsuit."As I said from the very beginning, we did nothing wrong," he said, referring to correctional officers. "We did exactly what should have been done. And I'm very pleased that the court settlement reflected that and did not cost the citizens of Leon County one cent."

[  tallahassee.com

21. September 2005

BRD

Selbstmord in JVA Neubrandenburg

Neubrandenburg/MVr Die Brandstiftung in der Justizvollzugsanstalt (JVA) auf dem Neubrandenburger Lindenberg hat sich als geplanter Selbstmord eines Untersuchungshäftlings erwiesen.

Davon ist nach Auskunft des Leitenden Oberstaatsanwalts Rainer Moser auszugehen. "Die Umstände der Tat lassen keine andere Schlussfolgerung zu", erklärte gestern der Behördenchef auf Anfrage des Treptower Tageblatt.Am Sonntagabend war die Neubrandenburger Feuerwehr zum Löscheinsatz hinter Gittern gerufen worden. Häftlinge hatten Qualmgeruch aus einer Nachbarzelle bemerkt und den Notruf ausgelöst. Die Retter mussten sich gewaltsam Zutritt zum Brandherd verschaffen. Wie sich zeigte, war von innen am Türschloss manipuliert und der Eingang mit einem Schrank verbarrikadiert worden. "Offenbar, damit Hilfe nicht zu schnell durchkommen kann", schätzt der Oberstaatsanwalt ein. In dem völlig verrauchten Raum lag der Bewohner bereits bewusstlos am Boden, der Notarzt stellte wenig später den Tod des jungen Mannes fest. Eine Obduktion wurde veranlasst. Der 21-Jährige stammte aus Polen. Er war des schweren Diebstahls verdächtig und allein in seiner Zelle untergebracht. Die Staatsanwaltschaft Neubrandenburg hatte Anklage am Amtsgericht Waren erhoben, so Rainer Moser. Die Hauptverhandlung sollte in absehbarer Zeit eröffnet werden. Dass es in den Zellen überhaupt die Möglichkeit gibt, Feuer zu entfachen, ist nach Auskunft des Leitenden Oberstaatsanwaltes nichts Ungewöhnliches. "Zigaretten zu rauchen, gehört zur Freiheit der Häftlinge", sagte er.

[  mvregio.de

21. September 2005

USA

nach einem autopsiebericht starb ein 44 jähriger mann im santa cruz county knast / kalifornien nicht an dem taser der benutzt wurde, sondern weil ihn die polizisten gewürgt hatten.

Inmate Killed When Deputies Choked Off Oxygen Supply

Santa Cruz County authorities have determined that a suspect being held in the Santa Cruz County Jail died because deputies choked off his oxygen supply. In investigating what led to the death of David Cross, the county's forensic pathologist ruled out the possibility that the 44-year-old Cross died when deputies used a Taser stun gun to try to subdue him. Cross was being held after being arrested Saturday during a domestic violence incident. Deputies say they tried to restrain him when he began banging his head on his cell.

The autopsy showed that Cross had amphetamine in his system. Cross weighed 260 pounds and his weight is believed to have contributed to his death. A spokesman for the sheriff's department says the department will open an investigation to try to determine whether Cross was restrained too severely or if any of the officers or medical staff were at fault.

[  kfmb.com

20. September 2005

USA

ungeklärter tod einer 16 jährigen im chad youth enhancement center / tennessee.

N.Y. teen dies after collapsing at Clarksville detention facility

Authorities are investigating the death of a 14-year-old girl who died at a Montgomery County juvenile detention facility Sunday night.

Linda Harris, a Long Island, N.Y., resident, was being treated at the privately owned Chad Youth Enhancement Center for emotional problems when she began having trouble breathing, according to Keystone Education and Youth Services in Nashville, which owns the center and 50 other facilities.Harris was being escorted by a staff member to a "time out" room after an emotional outburst when she collapsed.She was given CPR by the staff physician and taken to Gateway Medical Center by ambulance, where she died just after 10 p.m., authorities said.An autopsy was scheduled for this week."I don't know what to make of all of this," the girl's father, retired custodian Purcell Harris, told New York Newsday on Monday.

He said Linda's mother died 12 years ago after complications from carrying twins. He raised her alone since, even as her emotional state deteriorated."I raised her from the time she was born, but I needed help," he said, noting that trouble began around fifth grade.Harris arrived in Tennessee less than a week ago from Suffolk after Family Court Judge Joan Genchi placed her there.Suffolk probation officials said they are concerned because they've received conflicting accounts of the incident from the Montgomery County Sherriff's Department and the Chad Youth Enhancement Center.

Authorities are investigating whether she was being restrained physically by a worker at the time of the incident, according to Suffolk sources and Tennessee law enforcement officials."There was an incident involving the escort of this young lady and that's what's being investigated," said Ted Denny, a sheriff's spokesman.Buddy Turner, vice president of operations for Keystone, told /The Leaf-Chronicle/ newspaper of Clarksville that the staff member who had escorted the girl has been temporarily suspended until the investigation is complete.

An initial survey of the situation showed no violations on behalf of the center's policy, according to Keystone officials."Our focus will continue to be on the welfare of the children within our care and helping them to deal with this tragic event," Turner said.The death comes a little more than a month after New York Gov. George Pataki signed sweeping legislation known as Billy's Law to better protect children in out-of-state treatment centers, following myriad accounts of abuse, neglect and deaths of New York children.

[  wkrn.com

17. September 2005

UNITED KINGDOM

im yarl's wood abschiebeknast hat ein mannes aus angola dessen asylgesuch abgelehnt wurde suizid begangen. In dem einen artikel wird eine untersuchungskommission in die suizide in den abschiebeknästen verlangt und darauf hingewiesen das dies der sechste suizid innerhalb der letzten 12 monate in den lagern war.

Inquiry urged over increase in detention centre deaths

The high number of deaths among asylum-seekers held in British detention centres has prompted human rights and refugee groups to demand an urgent public inquiry to prevent any further loss of life.[...]

[  Inquiry urged over increase in detention centre deaths  / full article

14. September 2005

NEW ZEALAND

angebl. Suizid eines mannes im auckland knast. Der mann war nach seiner flucht aus dem manawatu knast im juli in den hochsicherheitsknast in paremoremo verlegt worden.

Taylor found dead in jail cell

Prison escaper Kerry Jason Taylor - the Palmerston North Black Power affiliate who carried out a daring escape from Manawatu Prison in July - was found dead in his cell at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo this morning.

Taylor, 36, is understood to have killed himself overnight, a week before he was due to be sentenced for the escape.The Corrections Department inspectorate - an independent body - has launched an investigation.Taylor had been shifted to the maximum-security prison after his July Manawatu Prison escape.Taylor's mother, Marlene Taylor, told the Manawatu Standard during the week he was on the run that he escaped because of the threat of being transferred to a maximum-security prison.

Mrs Taylor could not be reached for comment this morning.Taylor was facing proceedings in both the High Court and District Court on charges that included attempted murder, wounding with intent and threatening to kill.He was also due to appear on allegations of vehicle theft.He is the brother of self-appointed Black Power boss Brian Taylor, who is serving a 14-year sentence, also at Paremoremo.Palmerston North Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan today said Taylor had been on the police radar for more than 20 years.

However, Mr Sheridan said Taylor had tried several times to go straight."He had long spells of trying to make a go at things. There was quite a long period in the mid-'90s where he was quite settled and things were looking up for him."This morning he said he felt sorry for Taylor's mother."I know his mother quite well. That family has had some difficult times and she has stuck by those boys, as any parent would. She will be distraught."

[  stuff.co.nz

13. September 2005

USA

angebl. Suizid im el dorado county knast / kalifornien

Man is identified in suspected jail suicide

Donovan Leroy Henslick was identified as the inmate who apparently hanged himself with a 7-inch metallic telephone cord after he was booked into El Dorado County Jail early Saturday. Henslick, a 55-year-old from South Lake Tahoe, was brought into the jail at 3:49 a.m., placed into his cell at 4:18 a.m. and found deceased at 5:14 a.m., said sheriff's Lt. Randy Peshon. Henslick was checked at 4:30 a.m. and during other instances by "officers walking by, that sort of thing," Peshon said.

Jail staff found Henslick dead in a holding cell where new inmates can use the phone to call a bail bondsman or an attorney. Peshon, who heads the jail, said the phone's cord, like those on pay phones, was shortened to 7 inches from a foot about two years ago to prevent such occurrences.

"It's the shortest we can make them and have the phone still be (usable)," he said. Shortly after Peshon was assigned jail commander more than two years ago, a suicide prevention team toured the jail seeking ways to prevent suicides. The phone's cord was shortened a couple months later. Another suicide prevention team was being developed before Saturday's death, Peshon said. Henslick was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving on James Avenue, obstructing an officer and driving on a suspended license, Peshon said. An additional charge of bringing drugs into the jail was added when marijuana was found in Henslick's possession, Peshon said.

Henslick was listed at 5-foot-10-inches tall and 180 pounds, Peshon said. He was reportedly able to hang himself by keeping the phone's receiver in its cradle. No other inmates were in the holding cell.

The "Fatal Incident Protocol" has been instituted where the jail staff will do an internal investigation and bringing other agencies such as the South Lake Tahoe Police Department and California Highway Patrol to do a multiagency investigation.

Sheriff Jeff Neves was notified of Henslick's death. Although the report is pending, he said, the initial assessment was jail staff followed "all the proper procedures and protocols." Neves couldn't remember the last successful suicide attempt on the West Slope jail, but the last one to occur at the South Lake Tahoe facility was in April 2002 when James Csuscai hanged himself with a bedsheet. Csuscai was accused of murdering his girlfriend's 9-year-old daughter during a standoff with authorities at Campground by the Lake in September 2001.

But there have been suicide attempts even though the jails take away shoelaces and belts. One man jumped from the second tier to the ground level at the Placerville jail, while attempts have been made at South Lake Tahoe. "The sheriff's department tries very, very hard every day to prevent suicides within the jail and in the last two years we have prevented or stopped 10 attempts at suicides by inmates," Peshon said.

[  tahoedailytribune.com

12. September 2005

USA

2 angebl. Suizide in einem knast in ohio

Indiana man dies in second reported hanging at Ohio jail

A southern Indiana man hanged himself at an Ohio jail, the second inmate in a three days to do so, authorities said.Larry Spurlock, 35, of Patriot, Ind., was found hanging in his cell Sunday afternoon, according to the Warren County Sheriff’s office.Middletown police arrested him Thursday, accusing him of breaking and entering, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving under suspension.On Friday, Shawn Booker, 24, of Lebanon, was found hanging in his cell about three hours after his arrest on a domestic violence charge, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office declined to release details on the hangings, both considered suicides.“These are really just unfortunate and sad coincidences,” Maj. John Newsom said. “We don’t anticipate any changes. Obviously, we’re constantly reviewing our procedures.”

[  fortwayne.com

9. September 2005

USA

25 gefangene haben sich in den ersten sieben monaten dieses jahres in kalifornischen knästen getötet.

Record suicides in California prisons

Prisoners are killing themselves in record numbers in California prisons. 25 prisoners killed themselves in the first seven months of 2005 (January-July), already more than the 26 suicides for all of 2004. As of a month ago, California was on pace for a suicide rate of 22 suicides per 100,000 prisoners. This compares to a country-wide prison suicide rate of 13 deaths per 100,000 prisoners, and 11 deaths per 100,000 in society at large, according to the Associated Press' source.(1)

Defending themselves, prison officials have tried denying the science behind the numbers: "We don't believe that the rate in California is higher than the national average." The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokespersyn Terry Thornton said that the rate fluctuates, as if the fluctuation were just random. Prison officials have also pointed out (apparently as a defense) that there are more than 400 prisoner suicide attempts each year, but that most are not successful.(1)

There is an ongoing class-action lawsuit on behalf of mentally ill inmates. The Sacramento Bee on August 27th reported:

"The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation this month missed a deadline imposed by a federal judge to implement a policy calling for corrections officers to administer CPR to inmates who have attempted suicide and to track inmates' history of suicidal behavior, said attorneys who represent mentally ill inmates in a 15-year-old class action lawsuit."(2)

The California prison guard union is apparently holding up plans to train prison staff in CPR to give prisoners immediate life support. Thomas Nolan, an attorney for the mentally ill inmates, said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Tillman told him that she wasn't "sure whether negotiations had begun with the correctional officers' union regarding CPR." The Sacramento Bee cites a projected California prison system suicide rate for 2005 of 27.2 suicides per 100,000 inmates. The Sacramento Bee attributes this figure to a Special Master who reports to the judge in the class-action suit.

"A report of the special master filed in April in Sacramento federal court says that 74.2 percent of the 36 suicides in the state prison system in 2003 'involved some measure of inadequate treatment or intervention.' "(2)

Mental illness is considered a security concern in California prisons. This means that prisoners considered mentally ill are put in higher-security prisons where they are locked in their cells for most of the day, and have even fewer privileges. The conditions in California high-security prisons are bad enough to cause even the most levelheaded prisoners to become unbalanced. The effects on prisoners labeled mentally ill are even more dangerous. Further, when prisoners attempt suicide, the standard practice is to stand by and wait for medical people to arrive, rather than provide immediate life support.

MIM received a report from one prisoner locked up in Pelican Bay State Prison in August 2005. He wrote: "I've seen too many fellow prisoners fall victim, or better yet fall prey to these so called 'psychiatrists' here and in other institutions. You have perfectly healthy men in here running around like damn zombies. They keep them so heavily medicated that it takes all their ability to even do the simplest of things."

This prisoner went on to talk about the article criticizing the prisons for such a high suicide rate: "According to the department's spokeswoman 'They [California Department of Corrections] don't know what's causing it.' Ha Ha Ha, it's not that they don't know what's causing such high suicide rates. It's that they don't care. Besides, they would have to be crazy to say they know what the problem is, because they would have to shut down all their damn torture chambers and fire all those goddamn quacks they have running around here.

"Anybody who even remotely questions my claims, I ask them to come visit the so-called Psychiatric Housing Unit (PSU) here in Pelican Bay. Or as a matter of fact, just visit any ad-seg. As a mentally disturbed prisoner you have one of two choices. Number one, continue to be heavily sedated, and eventually lose whatever sense you have left. Or number two, unfortunately do what so many others have done to try to escape their harsh and unbearable realities (suicide). I know this may sound somewhat harsh to certain individuals, but this is reality for us.

"I believe it was Mao who said 'to change reality one has to live in it.' So for me to sugar coat anything that has to do with our oppressive conditions in here, I feel would be a deep injustice to us."

This high suicide rate in the adult prison is paralleled by the problem in the youth prisons ("juvenile detention" facilities), also well-known for their cruel conditions. The latest suicide, on August 31, was at Chad prison near Stockton, California. Youth at this facility were on lockdown, stuck in their cells for a week prior to this suicide. This came just a day after six Chad prison employees, who were fired after being videotaped beating two youth, were given their jobs back.(3) September 5 is the anniversary of the death of another youth at Chad, his cause of death was "unknown." The director of the California Youth Authority (CYA) ordered the Chad facility to stop accepting new youths and is considering closing the facility.

MIM Notes http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/mn/ regularly prints articles by prisoners describing the horrible conditions behind bars, including in the mental health units. With recent reports about deteriorating conditions in California prisons, and with the administration revoking even the smallest of privileges, it is not a surprise to us that the suicide rate is increasing.

1. Don Thompson (Associated Press), "Prison System criticized over rate of suicides," 7 August 2005, http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050807/news_1n7suicides.html

Don Thompson (Associated Press), "State's prison suicide rate prompts call for changes," 8 August 2005 (04:53:13 AM PDT), http://www.modbee.com/local/story/11052705p-11810715c.html

"Prison officials suggested California may send more of its mentally ill criminals to prison than other states that divert them to hospitals or other treatment. They also noted there typically are more than 400 inmate suicide attempts each year, but relatively few are completed."

2. Denny Walsh, "Prison officials' effort on suicides criticized," 27 August 2005, http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/california/story/13479019p-14319790c.html

3. Mark Gladstone, "Teen found dead in youth prison," San Jose Mercury News, 6 September 2005, http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/12542183.htm

[  etext.org

8. September 2005

ISRAEL

eine woche nach einen suizidversuch ist ein 21 jähriger mann im krankenhaus gestorben.

SUSPECTED Jewish terrorist dies

Jewish terror suspect Eliran Golan, 21, died Thursday evening, a week after he was hospitalized in serious condition after hanging himself in his cell at the Kishon prison near Haifa.

Golan, the suspected leader of a Jewish underground terror organization based in Haifa, was on trial for attempting to assassinate Arabs including Israeli Arab MK Issam Makhoul, along with accomplice Alexander Rabinovitz. Makhoul was not wounded in the attack. Golan also allegedly planted bomb in mosques and Arab-owned homes.According to suspicions, Rabinovitz provided the explosives which Golan placed under Makhoul's car.

Rabinovitz was sentenced last week to four years in prison and three years probation. He was convicted of assisting attempted murder, among other crimes.Golan was still awaiting the completion of his trial.In July, the Haifa District Court found Golan fit to stand trial, rejecting an earlier psychiatric evaluation which deemed him unfit to stand trial and as someone who could not be held responsible for his actions.

[  jpost.com

7. September 2005

AUSTRALIA

4 suizidversuche an 4 tagen in australischen flüchtlingsknästen / lager

4 suicide attempts in Aust. detention centres

Four suicide attempts show detention madness continues without any DIMIA culture change

"The appalling misery of refugees in Australia's detention centres continues unabated with as many as four suicide attempts in detention centres in as many days," WA Human rights lobby group Project SafeCom said today.

"In the Baxter detention centre, a man attempted to hang himself from his belt; another man of Iranian nationality has refused to eat - he has been on a hungerstrike since a couple of weeks - and has told advocates he intends to die, while a third man who planned to commit suicide was prevented from taking action when razor blades were removed from his person after a visiting advocate alerted the detention centre's health worker," spokesman Jack H Smit said.

"These three suicides come on top of a fourth case, where a Bangladeshi man in the Perth detention centre overdosed on 20 tablets, possibly sleeping tablets. This man was subject to a failed deportation attempt by the Department of Immigration back in June this year."

"Why were the Return Pending Bridging Visas created as a result of the pressure by the Georgiou group?" Mr Smit asked; "Were they not created because the horrors of permanent detention became so obvious that all people needed to come out of detention as fast as possible, before they were going mad?"

"Are we only taking the well-known asylum seekers out of our torture centres, and are we leaving the rest out there to rot until they die or kill themselves?"

"This week the Minister for Immigration tried to squirm out of the straightforward questions from the Greens' Kerry Nettle in the Senate - but the fact that she audaciously suggested that recommendations from the United Nations Human Rights Commission "are not binding" for DIMIA or for herself, shows how she is absolutely filled to the brim with hypocrisy about the suggested and promised thorough "culture change" in DIMIA, when the Mea Culpa's came from everywhere after the release of the damning Palmer report."

"The DIMIA Compliance Branch was shown up last weekend as a branch without any intentions to change its culture of whisking people on deportation flights in the dark and before the story breaks, and the Minister is trying to cover up their horror by trying to discredit the UN Human Rights Commission's pressure on her department."

"The DIMIA Compliance branch should be completely dismantled, and each and every cowboy within it should be sacked."

[  scoop.co.nz

3. September 2005

JAPAN

das oberste japanische gericht hat die klage einer frau, die behauptet ihr vater sei während einer vernehmung von polizisten erschossen worden, abgelehnt . lt dem gericht hat der mann sich selbst getötet.

Top court rules suspect killed himself in interrogation room

TOKYO
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a damages suit by a woman claiming a police officer shot and killed her father during an interrogation, and ruled he committed suicide.The top court upheld a Tokyo High Court ruling in April last year that the 55-year-old man used a handgun and bullets, seized from him and taken into the interrogation room at the Tobe Police Station in Kanagawa Prefecture as evidence, to kill himself Nov 8, 1997. (Kyodo News)

[  japantoday.com

2. September 2005

USA

angebl. Suizid im kent county knast / michigan

KENT County Jail inmate found dead in apparent suicide

The Kent County Sheriff's Department says a 20-year-old inmate at the county jail has apparently killed himself. Willie Burton of Grand Rapids was unresponsive when deputies found him lying in his cell last night.A noose made from a bed sheet was found around his neck.Medical personnel were unable to revive him.Burton was awaiting trial on a homicide charge filed in the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming.

[  woodtv.com

1. September 2005

USA

ein 33 jähriger mann, der vor zwei tagen im will county knast / illinois einen suizidversuch unternahm, ist im krankenhaus gestorben.

JAIL inmate dies 2 days after suicide attempt

A Will County Jail inmate died late Tuesday, two days after he was found lying on the floor of his cell with a sheet around his neck, sheriff's officials said Gary Oakley, 33, of the 14900 block of Poplar Road in Orland Park, was pronounced dead at in the intensive care unit of Silver Cross Hospital at 6 p.m., according to the Will County coroner's office. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday. Will County sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry said a deputy checked on Oakley during standard rounds Sunday, 11 minutes before another inmate found Oakley passed out on the floor. Barry said that no one at the jail suspected Oakley might be suicidal and that officials were not told he might have mental problems. Illinois state troopers have said they plan to investigate Oakley's arrest after a vehicular chase Friday.

[  chicagotribune.com

USA

31. August 2005

[  Suicide and Homicide in State Prisons and Local Jails
    Bureau of Justice Statistics. 07/2005

22. August 2005

SPAIN

artikel über die ermordung eines mannes am 24. juli 2005 durch 9 polizisten.

Spain: Guardia Civil beat farm labourer to death

In an August 10 letter to the Spanish authorities, Amnesty International (AI) has asked for “a full, thorough and independent investigation” into the events that led to the death of a farm labourer while in custody at the headquarters of the Civil Guard in Roquetas de Mar (Almeria).....

[  Spain: Guardia Civil beat farm labourer to death

31. August 2005

MEXICO / USA

ungeklärter tod einer frau im knast in ensenada

WOMAN'S death in Ensenada jail is probed

Ensenada authorities are investigating whether police officers were involved in the death of an Orange County woman in a jail cell Aug. 9.

At a news conference by the Baja California state attorney general's office in Ensenada last week, authorities rejected theories that Pauline Baeza, 20, died from a self-inflicted wound or committed suicide, said Liza Davis, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana.Davis said the focus on police is based on a videotape of Baeza as she was being taken to her jail cell, shortly before her death."It showed that she fell or was dropped and hit her head in such a way that was consistent with the injury that caused her death," Davis said.

An autopsy report determined that Baeza died from a brain hemorrhage caused by blunt trauma to the back of her head, Davis said.She said Ensenada authorities have been talking to nine officers in an attempt to identify suspects."Mexican authorities have been very aggressive in monitoring this," she said.Attempts to reach authorities at the Ensenada state attorney general's office for comment were unsuccessful./The Orange County Register /reported last weekend that Baeza had struggled with mental illness and had left for Tijuana abruptly. She was detained by Ensenada police twice the same day for alleged aggressive behavior before being taken to the jail cell where she was found dead about 11:30 p.m., Davis said.

[  signonsandiego.com

26. August 2005

USA

angebl. Suizid eines gefangenen im hampton roads regional knast / virginia

RETIRED Cop Commits Suicide in Jail

Newport News, Va. (AP) - Jail officials in Portsmouth say a retired Newport News police officer charged with killing his wife took his own life. Captain Eugene Taylor at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail says Jack Stele hanged himself in his cell early Thursday. A guard found his body tied to a bedsheet. Taylor says a note was found with Steele's body, but he wouldn't discuss it. He says the note was turned over to Portsmouth police detectives investigating the death. The body was sent to the state medical examiner's office in Norfolk. Steele retired from the Newport News police department five years ago. He was 58 years old when he was charged in May with bludgeoning to death his wife, Petra. Jail officials kept Steele in a cell by himself for his own safety.

[  

22. August 2005

USA

ungeklärter tod einer frau im sonoma county knast / california

Woman Dies in Sonoma County Jail

A 48-year-old woman died at the Sonoma County jail, less than two days after arriving there.Assistant Sheriff Michael Costa says Donna Gean Welch died late Sunday night. An autopsy will be done to determine cause of death.Welch was arrested Friday night on suspicion of public intoxication and methamphetamine possession. She was booked into the county jail about 9:41 p.m.Costa says Sunday night, guards found her lying on her bunk. She wasn't breathing and they started CPR. She was pronounced dead about an hour later at Kaiser Hospital.

[  kron4.com

21. August 2005

USA

ein 27 jähriger mann ist aus bisher ungeklärten gründen im harrison county knast / iowa gestorben.

27-Year-Old Man Dies During Jail Stay

Man Was Taking Prescription Sleep Aids When He Died

A 27-year-old Missouri Valley man died while spending the night in jail Saturday.

Christopher Lynch had been arrested for not appearing in court over a dentist bill. Sheriff's deputies at the Harrison County Jail, in Logan, discovered Lynch?s body just after 6 a.m. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.Lynch's family is mourning and looking for answers.An autopsy showed a pre-existing medical condition as Lynch's initial cause of death.Sheriff Terry Baxter said that Lynch -- who had no prior arrest history -- was placed in a single-person cell upon his request Friday night. But when jailers tried to wake him Saturday morning, he was found unresponsive, lying face-down in his bunk.

Lynch's mother, Patt, said her son had just been prescribed a sleep aid and was taking medication for hypertension. She said her son informed authorities about the prescription, and that the jailers should check on him throughout the night.Baxter said jailers monitored the cell via a video camera, but didn't see anything unusual."They have to make checks. They log those checks -- that was done all morning long. There was nothing that indicated any kind of distress," Baxter said."Somebody at that jail was negligent, I feel, by allowing any prisoner to be unattended for six hours without at least checking on him," said Patt Lynch.

Baxter called Lynch's death "very disturbing," and said his office is cooperating fully with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, which is now in Logan interviewing personnel and inmates.An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday in Douglas County, Nebraska.Lynch is survived by his fiancee and 10-year-old child in addition to his parents and siblings. They said they just want answers about how he died.

The case is still under investigation.

[  theomahachannel.com

21. August 2005

USA

ein 45 jähriger mann, der nur stunden nachdem er im fayette county knast / kentucky inhaftiert wurde im "komatösen zustand " in ein krankenhaus eingeliefert wurde, ist gestorben.

Man found unresponsive in jail dies

Jail, emergency care officials are investigating incident

A Lexington man who entered the Fayette County jail early Monday and hours later was comatose in the University of Kentucky Hospital died yesterday morning.Gerald L. Cornett, 45, died sometime after 6 a.m. as his stepbrother Doug Arnold felt his pulse weaken, Arnold said.It is still not clear how Cornett landed in the hospital with massive head trauma and dark purple bruises that lined his back, chest and left thigh. A city spokesman said the incident is being examined by the Fayette County Detention Center and Emergency Care, a division of the fire department.

"This is being investigated," said Bruce Edwards, a spokes-man for Mayor Teresa Isaac. "As soon as we have answers, everyone will know."After a night of drinking, Cornett left his friend Terry-McClanahan's house at 11 p.m. Sunday to walk to his stepfather and mother's house, McClanahan has said. About 20 minutes later, Cornett was arrested for public intoxication at Wilson Downing Road and Ridgepoint Run. A police report did not indicate that Cornett was injured or had resisted arrest.At 1:06 a.m. Monday, Cornett was booked at the jail. Less than two hours later, he was transported by city ambulance after a guard noticed that he was "unresponsive" in his single-person cell, according to jail officials.

City and jail officials reiterated yesterday that Cornett did not enter or leave the detention facility with any bruises or head injuries. Capt. Edye Dabney, a jail spokeswoman, said there was no indication that Cornett got into a fight at the jail and that he "was very compliant, very cooperative."Drunken inmates are released into a common area -- often referred to as the drunk tank -- with a television, chairs and telephones. They typically stay for eight hours, sober up and are released. The drunk tank also has single-person cells where inmates can sleep. That's where jail officials say Cornett was found.

Inmates charged with public intoxication are not subjected to a strip search, meaning jail officials would not have been able to see bruises beneath Cornett's clothing, Dabney said.Edwards objected to a story and headline about Cornett in yesterday's Herald-Leader, saying the paper jumped to conclusions about where Cornett sustained his injuries.Edwards said it's too early to rule out whether Cornett injured himself in a fall. Cornett's father, Eddie, said Friday, "You could fall 50 times and not be bruised like he is bruised.""There is a lot of questions that have to be asked about bruises," Edwards said. "I'm sorry, Mr. Cornett's family -- we understand their passion for wanting information. But sometimes we have to take a deep breath and review the information. That is only the right thing to do."

Family and friends are puzzled why Cornett was arrested at Wilson Downing Road and Ridgepoint Run, where a police report stated he was sitting drunk "in the middle of the street" with a half case of Natural Ice beer. Police with knowledge of the arrest could not be reached for comment.Cornett had left McClanahan's home on Whispering Hills Drive to go to his mother's house on Belleauwood Drive, where he also lived. But the intersection where he was found is to the east and off the path Cornett normally takes home, friends and family said."There is no reason for him to be over there," stepfather Bob Arnold said.McClanahan found what he believes to be Cornett's beer when he tried to retrace his steps earlier this week. He said it was about 10 or 15 feet off the road. Two cans of beer had been smashed, McClanahan said. "It looks like someone hit them with a hammer," he said.

[  kentucky.com

Man suffers massive head injuries in jail IN COMA, HIS FAMILY UNABLE TO FIND OUT WHY

20. August 2005
As Gerald L. Cornett lay comatose in a hospital room last night, his grief-stricken family was still asking how he went from a Fayette County jail cell to the edge of death in a matter of hours.

Morphine pumped into Cornett's dying body yesterday. Stitches stretched across his head, and dark purple bruises lined his back, left thigh and chest."You could fall 50 times and you would not be bruised like he is bruised," Cornett's father, Eddie, said in the hallway of the University of Kentucky Hospital, tears in his eyes. "I don't know nothing, so I can't blame anyone. But I sure would love to know."Relatives say they are frustrated with the difficulty of squeezing information out of police, jail and hospital officials. Stepfather Bob Arnold said Lexington police and jail officials have ignored his questions and left the family in the dark.

"Everywhere I've turned, I've been stonewalled," Arnold said.According to a police report, Cornett, 45, was arrested at 11:20 p.m. Sunday after he was found sitting drunk with a half case of Natural Ice beer at the intersection of Wilson Downing and Ridgepoint Run. The report stated that he had bloodshot eyes and was unable to stand by himself, but mentioned no injuries and did not indicate that he resisted arrest.

Police officials with knowledge of the arrest could not be reached for comment yesterday.Cornett was booked at the Fayette County Detention Center at 1:06 a.m. Monday, said Capt. Edye Dabney, a jail spokeswoman. At 2:52 a.m., he was rushed to UK Hospital after he was found "unresponsive" in his single-person cell, Dabney said.Jail officials said there is no indication Cornett was involved in a physical altercation at the jail. Dabney said Cornett cooperated with authorities and had no visible injuries when he arrived.

No bruises were documented by jail staff, Dabney said. Citing federal privacy laws, she declined to provide medical information. Jail officials also refused yesterday to disclose documents related to Cornett's hospital transport.Cornett's family said doctors told them he arrived at the hospital comatose with massive head injuries that required immediate surgery. He was removed from life support Thursday because he is not expected to recover from the coma, his family said.

They don't expect him to survive past this weekend.

The Herald-Leader could not confirm with UK the extent of his injuries because of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which limits public release of medical information. But a spokeswoman said he was listed in serious condition.The family has retained the Lexington law firm of Rambicure, Miller and Pisacano to try to get answers. The family plans to go to court next week to obtain temporary guardianship of Cornett. That would allow them access to medical records and other information.

Before his arrest, Cornett was last seen by his best friend Terry McClanahan, friends and family say. After watching the movie /Independence Day/ Sunday night, Cornett grabbed his beer and headed for his stepfather and mother's home on Belleau Wood Drive, the friend said.Cornett, who worked at a Pizza Hut, had not been in any fights and did not have any large bruises, McClanahan said. He and family members acknowledged that Cornett is a longtime alcoholic and bruised easily.

But McClanahan said Cornett is easygoing and does not get into fights. "He's not that type of person," McClanahan said. "He won't even squish a spider."

[  kentucky.com

20. August 2005

USA

3 der 20 wärter die in einem batimore knast einen gefangenen zu tode geprügelt haben, wurden jetzt wegen mord angeklagt.

Jail guards charged with killing inmate

Three former Maryland prison guards have been charged with killing an inmate who was stomped and beaten in a Baltimore jail.A grand jury handed up a second-degree murder indictment naming Dameon C. Woods, Nathaniel D. Colbert and James L. Hatcher, the Baltimore Sun reported. All three are being held in prisons outside Baltimore.The victim, Raymond Smoot, was being held at the Central Intake and Booking Facility in May on a warrant for failure to appear in court, when he allegedly refused to return to his cell. Investigators say when he attacked a guard, officers called for backup and about 20 officers responded, kicking and stomping on him.Eight officers have been fired, including the three who now face charges.

[  monstersandcritics.com

USA

19. August 2005

nach einer "auseinandersetzung" nach seiner festnahme wurde ein 29 jähriger mann schwer verletzt, und im krankenhaus als "hirntod" erklärt.

Injured inmate may be taken off life support

A local inmate was set to be taken off life support Friday after his family says a fight with jail personnel left him brain dead.Relatives of 29-year-old James Moore said the last time they saw him alive was Monday night when he was arrested by deputies.Moore's grandfather said he called officers after Moore began making strange remarks to the family and acting disoriented.?He says, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Am I supposed to kill you" Am I supposed to kill my baby??? said Moore's grandfather, John Tripp. "I've never seen him that way before."Tripp said his grandson was taken away without incident, but when he tried to see him Wednesday night, Sheriff's officials said Moore was in the hospital after a fight in jail.A Sheriff's Department spokeswoman said, "Moore was booked on Monday for making threats. There was an altercation during the booking process, and after that altercation, Moore was taken to Mercy Hospital."

[  kget.com

Inmate in critical condition following altercation with officers

18. august 2005

A 29-year-old Bakersfield man was in critical condition Thursday after an altercation with staff at the Downtown Jail. Sheriff's detectives are investigating how James Moore was injured.The department's spokesman could say only Moore was booked on Monday for making threats and there was an altercation during the booking process.After the altercation, Moore was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he is in critical condition.

[  kget.com

19. August 2005

USA

mann erhenkt in seiner zelle im washoe knast / nevada aufgefunden

DEPUTIES investigating death of inmate at Washoe jail

The Washoe County sheriff's office is investigating the death of an inmate found hanging in his jail cell. The 54-year-old man was found Wednesday afternoon during a routine cell check. He was taken to Washoe Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.Sheriff Dennis Balaam says the man was booked on Monday on one charge of pettery larceny. His name was withheld until relatives are notified.

[  krnv.com

15. August 2005

USA

der tod eines mannes im richland county knast / south carolina, der angeblich freiwillig bei einer "gang einführung" mitgemacht haben soll, wurde vom gerichtsmediziner als mord eingestuft.

RICHLAND County jail inmate dies after beating

(Columbia-AP) August 15, 2005 - The Richland County coroner has ruled the death of an inmate at the county jail a homicide.

Coroner Gary Watts says 20-year-old Travis Fuller, of Columbia, had a previously unknown heart condition, and he says the beating would not have killed Fuller had it had not been for the condition.Fuller died Saturday afternoon at Palmetto Health Richland hospital.Watts says Fuller may have been beaten during an initiation at the jail. Watts and the sheriff's department have determined that Fuller voluntarily participated in a gang initiation during which he was beaten on the chest by another inmate.

Watts says Fuller had bruises on his chest, but he doesn't know how long the beating occurred before Fuller lost consciousness.Sheriff's spokesman Chris Cowan says no charges have been filed.The coroner says three or four inmates were present during the beating.

[  wistv.com

16. August 2005

USA

mann tod in seiner zelle im calhoun county knast / michigan aufgefunden.

INMATE found dead at Calhoun County Jail

An autopsy will be performed Tuesday on an inmate who died Monday night at the Calhoun County jail. The 55-year-old man was found lying unresponsive on the floor of a common area around 5:15. He was taken to the Battle Creek Health System where he was pronounced dead.Officials say they're sure he didn't die from MRSA, which is a highly contagious staph infection that killed two other inmates at the jail in March.

[  woodtv.com

13. August 2005

USA

nach dem tod eines 24 jährigen der von der polizei mit einem taser beschossen wurde, verklagt die familie nun die herstellerfirma.

Family's suit claims Taser is at fault in son's death

The family of a 24-year old man who died after a confrontation with Phoenix police officers who shocked him with a Taser filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday claiming the stun-gun manufacturer "misrepresented" the safety of its weapon.

The lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court described Tasers as dangerous weapons capable of killing a human being and alleged that officers shocked Keith Graff continually for 84 seconds until he died.Taser "has failed to warn police agencies of the likely lethal dangers of its product," the suit states. "As a result . . . police officers have been lulled into a false sense of security that the Taser can be used as a less physically demanding substitute for pepper spray, physical contact and other less dangerous non-lethal uses of force."

Taser Vice President Steve Tuttle said Friday that he was not aware of the suit. He said the company will aggressively defend itself against any claims."Medical experts studying Taser devices have concluded that they are among the safest means to subdue violent individuals who could harm law enforcement officers, innocent citizens or themselves," Tuttle said in an e-mail statement.The company maintains that its stun guns have never caused a death or serious injury. The Scottsdale-based company has been fighting this year to overcome safety concerns that have caused some police departments to stop using Tasers and resulted in state and federal inquiries into the company's safety claims.

Taser announced Friday that the court dismissed a wrongful death suit filed against the company by the family of Mario Madrigal, a 15-year-old who died in 2003 after Mesa police shot him with real guns. Before the shooting, two officers fired Tasers at the teen. One missed. The other hit him in the chest with just one of the two probes, and it didn't work.Graff's family acknowledges that he had problems, including some experimentation with drugs. He was wanted for failing to report to probation officers after serving nine months in jail on a car-theft conviction. They also said he was a gentle person who did not deserve "the death penalty."Phoenix police said officers first stopped Graff in April while investigating a trespassing at an apartment complex. Officer Carla Williams reported that Graff shoved her and fled. On May 2, Williams tracked Graff to another north Phoenix apartment. Police say Graff again tried to run away and fought with Williams and other officers. At the time, police said officers shocked him for about 45 seconds.

Graff family lawyer David Derickson points to a training bulletin Taser posted on its Web site in June that advised police officers that repeated, prolonged or continuous exposure to shocks might impair breathing and recommended avoiding multiple discharges.The suit raises questions about the validity of Taser's medical studies and accused the company of disregarding information from doctors, researchers and medical examiners who have identified potential problems with the weapon.

Medical examiners have cited Taser as a cause of death, a contributing factor or say it can't be ruled out as a cause in 18 autopsy reports."He was my older brother," Graff's sister, Laura Bowden, said Friday. "I miss him. He won't get to see me get married. He won't get to see his nieces and nephews. . . . It's not right."

[  azcentral.com

06. August 2005

ERITREA

erst jetzt wurde bekannt das 161 menschen im wia detention camp, die am 10. juni fliehen wollten, erschossen wurden.

BRUTALITY beyond imagination

It was recently reported that 161 young Eritreans were shot dead in cold blood at Wia detention camp following direct orders from the President. Reliable sources from Eritrea indicate that on Friday June 10, 2005, the youngsters, who were held at Wia camp, were trying to escape from the inhospitable environment in the camp when they were shot dead.

This is a horrific and barbaric act that should not be tolerated. The regime continues to escalate the brutality with which it controls any kind of dissent. This despicable act must be condemned by all peace and justice loving Eritreans and non-Eritreans alike. The families of those murdered do not yet know the fate of their children. They are still hoping to see their loved ones.

The escalation of brutality is a worrying development. The perpetrators of this murderous act should remember that they couldn't hide from justice forever. We encourage victims of any illegal act to collect evidence for use in future legal proceedings. The perpetrators should remember that one day they will be brought before a court of law and would have to answer for their crimes.

EHDR-UK condemns this murderous act in the strongest possible terms and calls on Eritreans in Diaspora and the International community to condemn this tragic act and take initiatives to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators in the international criminal court.

We would like to convey our condolences to the families of the dead. This is truly a poignant and tragic day for Eritrea.

[  news9.asmarino.com

04. August 2005

USA

angebl. Suizid im lake county knast / indiana

DEATH of Lake County Jail inmate ruled a suicide

The Lake County, Indiana, Sheriff's Department says a Chicago man being held in the county jail in Crown Point on theft charges committed suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet.Twenty-nine-year-old James Hunt was discovered hanged from a cell window early yesterday morning.Guards and jail medical personnel performed CPR until paramedics from Crown Point arrived and took Hunt to The Methodist Hospitals in Merrillville, where he was pronounced dead.Hunt had been in the jail since Saturday, when he and two others were arrested by Hobart police on charges of stealing computers from a store.An autopsy determined Hunt died of asphyxia. The Lake County Coroners Office ruled the death a suicide.

[  abclocal.go.com

04. August 2005

USA

angebl. Suizid im jefferson county knast

Jefferson jail inmate is found hanged
Sego used sheet in cell, officials say

A Jefferson County jail inmate used a sheet to hang himself in his cell in the Hall of Justice on Tuesday night, officials said.Derrick L. Sego, 27, was pronounced dead at 11:52 p.m. at University Hospital, said Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Rita Taylor.Sego had been taken there after being found hanging from a sheet in his fifth-floor, one-man cell on the fifth floor of the Hall of Justice shortly after 11 p.m., jail spokeswoman Pam Windsor said.

A corrections officer found Sego, entered the cell, called for medical assistance and tried to resuscitate him along with other officers, she said.Sego had been checked about 30 minutes earlier, Windsor said. She said there were no indications he was contemplating suicide.Sego had been serving a one-year sentence from Jefferson District Court since April for failure to pay child support.

Since that time, Sego, who was on work release or home incarceration between April and Aug. 1, was charged with criminal possession of a forged prescription, promoting contraband, possession of marijuana, theft by unlawful taking over $300 and two counts of escape, according to court records.Sego's record included misdemeanor convictions for trafficking in marijuana, possession of marijuana, trespassing and giving an officer a false name or address.

Metro Corrections is conducting an internal review regarding the death, Windsor said.The last suicide by an inmate in the jail was in 2002, Windsor said.

[  courier-journal.com

03. August 2005

EGYPT

in dem report über die menschenrechtssituation im land, der jährlich erscheint und von der egyptian human rights organisation herausgegeben wird, wird von 22 durch folter in polizeiwachen ermordeten menschen berichtet.

22 Egyptians die due to torture in detention

An Egyptian legal organization said that 22 persons at least died because of torture while detained the police departments in 2004.

The Egyptian Human Rights Organization, in its annual report on the status of human rights in the country, said that death of these persons is an indication that the phenomenon of torture is widespread, and is an indicator of the deteriorated health and living conditions inside jails.The organization's secretary general, Hafez Abu Sadaa, considered that the report does not depict all the human rights violations in Egypt but provides only "examples on it," noting that a full investigation of the magnitude of such practices require large resources.

He added in a press conference at the organization's headquarters that arresting large number of people concerning explosions, including ones of Taba and Sharm al-Sheikh, reveals the inability of the security forces and its manner of dealing with and depicting events."He indicated that the terrorism fighting law should be based on international criterion in order to protect human rights, noting that that there are what he called "20,000 time bombs, who are all young people that lost five or ten years of their life (in detention) without trials."

The 500-page report indicated to mass punishment practices which covered large scale random detentions, holding hostages, imposing curfew, intimidating citizens.He indicated that one of the main mass punishment phenomenon was in north Sinai governorates, which has al-Areesh as a capital, where 3000 persons were arrested following the explosion of October 6, 2004 in Taba resort and the recent explosions of Sharm el-Sheik

[  arabicnews.com

01. August 2005

USA

angeblicher drogentod eines mannes im western regional knast / west virginia.

Inmate Dies at Western Regional Jail
Tests found evidence of drugs in the body of Russell Roberts of Branchland.

State Police said Monday they are investigating the suspicious death of an inmate at Western Regional Jail in Barboursville.The inmate, Russell Roberts, 27, of Branchland, died early Friday. He'd been arrested on charges of simple possession, no operators, no vehicle insurance and a registration violation.A preliminary investigation showed no signs of external physical injuries, but tests done at a local hospital found evidence of drugs in the victim's system.

Roberts is the third inmate to die at the jail this year.In February, Henry Smith, 37, of Huntington died about 10 hours after returning from an unsupervised furlough to attend a family funeral.In January, Jason Burdette died of a drug overdose after his mother smuggled drugs into the jail. Vicki Lee Collins pleaded guilty July 21 to transporting drugs and will spend two to 10 years in prison.

[  wboy.com

29. July 2005

USA

angeblicher suizid eines 25 jährigen im yakima county knast / washington

Yakima County Jail inmate dies

The death of a 25-year-old Yakima County Jail inmate has been ruled a suicide by the Yakima County coroner's office.Matthew David Bonato was pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon at Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center, where he had been in intensive care.The coroner's office said an autopsy Thursday concluded cause of death was "ligature strangulation due to hanging."

Bonato was found hanging from a bed sheet in a lockdown cell the night of July 21, jail officials told the Yakima Herald Republic. He never regained consciousness after being rushed to the hospital.Bonato, of Yakima, had been in custody since Jan. 23 on charges of second- and third-degree assault, as well as interfering with making a police report.

[  seattlepi.nwsource.com

28. July 2005

USA

ein 35 jähriger mann ,der in einer zelle eines knastes im new yorker stadtteil queens mit einem taser beschossen wurde, starb auf dem weg in ein krankenhaus.

Man shocked with Taser dies in NY cell

A 35-year-old man died after being shocked with a Taser in a Queens, N.Y. jail cell where he was being held for drug possession.Terrence L. Thomas died of an apparent heart attack Wednesday en route to Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica shortly after police used the stun gun on him in a holding cell.

Thomas reportedly was under the influence of crack cocaine at the time of his death. An autopsy was conducted Thursday, the New York Times reported.More than 100 people have died after being stunned with a Taser, but the 50,000-volt shock is not usually directly attributed to the deaths, according to a recently released report.

The report did not look at a Taser's effects on those using drugs.A police spokesman defended use of the stun gun. "A preliminary review of the incident uncovered no evidence that the device had been used improperly," said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.Department guidelines allow Taser use to restrain people who might harm others due to drug or alcohol intoxication.

[  sciencedaily.com

Inmates: Tasers, baton used on man who died

Sheriff won't say how officers defended attack

Two inmates at the Lancaster County (S.C.) Detention Center told the Observer this week that they saw officers use Tasers, Mace and a baton to subdue a man Saturday who eventually died during the struggle.Sheriff Johnny Cauthen, citing an ongoing investigation, would not say what officers used to subdue Maurice Cunningham, 29, of Lancaster. He said the four officers, all of whom were injured, did what they could under the circumstances.

"We did take action -- we took preventive measures -- but those measures did not work," he said. "They were assaulted, and they tried to stop him, but couldn't."Cauthen did, however, confirm other details of the story that inmates Johnson Gill, 24, and Andrew Ballard, 19, told the Observer. The men are in jail awaiting trial on unrelated cases of armed robbery and accessory after the fact to murder.

Gill and Ballard were housed together about two cells away from Cunningham's cell on Saturday. The men said they took turns looking sideways through the small window of their cell when the fight between Cunningham and the officers began about 8:45 p.m.They said the altercation started when a female officer tried to get a razor from Cunningham after he'd finished shaving. When she opened the door to Cunningham's cell, Cunningham forced his way through, they said. Gill, Ballard and the sheriff said Cunningham stabbed the woman in the eye with a pencil and bolted down the hall.

"He just ran out and hit her and tried to escape," Gill said.

The inmates and the sheriff said Cunningham was then confronted by the three other officers who were on duty that night. As the officers struggled with Cunningham, he stabbed another in the face with the pencil, they said.Ballard said he heard the crackle and pop of two Tasers. Gill, who was standing at the window, said he saw two officers use the Tasers on Cunningham while another used a baton and the fourth used Mace. At some point, Cunningham became unresponsive, and EMS was called. He was dead when they arrived, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Cauthen declined to comment on those details, saying he didn't want to hinder an S.C. Law Enforcement Division investigation. He said the layout of the jail's hallway and cells would have made it "next to impossible" for Gill and Ballard to see much of what occurred after Cunningham ran from his cell.But the sheriff said he would forward their names to SLED so investigators could interview them. Cauthen said he asked the agency to investigate to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

"You can hardly see at that angle, and the doors are locked shut," he said. "I'm not saying they're lying, but it's very hard to see. There is a possibility they could see, so I'll give their names to SLED."Gill and Ballard said investigators had not previously interviewed them."My eyes cannot tell a lie," Gill said. "My eyes seen the truth of what happened. I know what I saw."

Cauthen also declined to release the names of the officers, citing safety concerns. He said jail staff began receiving threatening phone calls starting Sunday. The sheriff has suspended visits to the jail indefinitely.The officers are on administrative leave while the Sheriff's Office conducts an internal investigation. Cauthen said as far as he knows, pathologists have not yet been able to determine the cause of Cunningham's death following an autopsy.

Although the jail is about 30 people over its 122-inmate capacity, Cunningham was housed in a cell by himself because he was in a fight with two other inmates about three weeks ago, Cauthen said. He said Cunningham was allowed to use a razor and have a pencil because he wasn't on suicide watch.Cunningham was in jail awaiting trial on an assault and battery with intent to kill charge involving an alleged attack with a knife.

Ballard said the whole Saturday incident has disturbed him."It could have been anybody," he said. "It could have been us."

[  charlotte.com

28. July 2005

USA

ein 22 jähriger im lieber correctional knast / south carolina, wurde erstochen in seiner zelle aufgefunden.

Inmate found dead at Lieber prison

An inmate at the Lieber Correctional Institution was killed in his cell Tuesday night.

The body of Justis Bergenzer, 22, was found in his cell by a sergeant who was locking down the prison's B-wing in the Edisto Unit, according to a news release on the Department of Corrections? Web site. Bergenzer had been stabbed to death, the Web site said.

The sergeant found the body after noticing a group of inmates standing outside cell B-23.Bergenzer was serving a one-year sentence for escape and grand larceny. He had escaped from the Wateree River Correctional Institution in August 2002. The State Law Enforcement Division and the state Department of Corrections are investigating Bergenzer's death.

[  thestate.com

28. July 2005

ISRAEL

ein 18 jähriger palästinenser ,der an den nieren erkrankt war und dem eine angemessene medizinische behandlung verweigert wurde, ist im negev detention knast gestorben.

YOUTH detainee dies in the Negev detention

The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees reported on Thuyrsday, that detainee Jawad Adel abu Mgheisib, 18, died at the Negev Desert Detention of medical neglect and mistreatment.The ministry stated that prison administration rejected to allow the detainee any access to medication for sickness contracted in detention.

Also, the Detainees Media Center reported that abu Mgheisib suffered recently serious deterioration in his health condition, and was not provided with the proper medical treatment and attention.Detainee abu Mgheisib was supposed to be released from detention in the coming few weeks.

Sufian abu Zaida, Palestinian minister of detainees and liberated detainees, said that detainee abu Mgheisib suffered a disease in his kidney.Abu Zaida held the Israeli Authorities responsible for the death of abu Mgheisib after neglecting his medical rights, which caused further complications leading to his death.It is worth mentioning that abu Mgheisib was arrested from his home in Dir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, in October, 21, 2002.

[  imemc.org

19. July 2005

USA

angebliche suizide zweier männer im preston county knast / west virginia

TWO men found dead at W.Va. jail

Two men apparently committed suicide at the Preston County Jail over the past weekend.The men hanged themselves with bed sheets in separate incidents, state police Sgt. R.L. Monroe of the Kingwood detachment said early Tuesday.

A correctional officer found Mark Douglas George, 33, of Terra Alta, in his cell about 4:45 p.m. Saturday. George had been in jail since April 8 and was awaiting transport to the state penitentiary. He had been sentenced July 1 to serve 15 to 35 years there for felony sexually related offenses, according to The Dominion Post.

At 6:50 a.m. on Sunday, the officer found Allan Scott Kershaw, 30, of Philadelphia, in his cell. Kershaw had been arrested Saturday evening and charged with trespassing and destruction of property, both misdemeanors.Kershaw's sister, Laurie McGuire, said she believed he had been traveling with friends, the newspaper reported.Kershaw would have probably been released as soon as he was arraigned by a magistrate, Preston County Sheriff Ron Crites said.

Crites declined to say how often prisoners are checked.Correctional officials have emphasized officers' presence at the jail since the suicides, Crites said. Police are investigating each death separately, talking with family members and researching the men's histories, Monroe said.Both bodies were sent to the state medical examiner's office for autopsies.The jail will close at the end of July when prisoners go to the new Tygart Valley Regional Jail.

[  pennlive.com

19. July 2005

SRI LANKA

ein 52 jähriger mann ist an den folgen der polizeifolter gestorben

SRI LANKA: Extra judicial killings; Torture; Rule of law

Hettiarachchige Abeysiri was a hardworking daily paid labourer and he worked in the house of neighbor Mr. Ratnayake, a former police officer who has gone abroad and is due to return home soon. One day, Ms. Ratnayake made a complaint to the Peliyagoda police stating that she had lost her mobile receiver of a land phone, which cannot be used outside.

On 13 July 2005 at about 11:30pm, the police arrived at Mr. Abeysiri's house. Mr. Abeysiri was sleeping at that time and the police awoke him and took him into custody saying that he was wanted for theft. According to Mr. Abeysiri's elder sister, the police did not produce any warrant and that they, except the driver, wore civilian clothes at the time of his arrest. They also slap Mr. Abeysiri hard several times.

The next day (July 14), the police took Mr. Abeysiri back to his house and his sister's son saw that he was handcuffed. The police took the son-in-law of Mr. Abeysiri's sister, Mr. Liyanage Pradeep Asokakumara, into custody and demanded him to show the place where the stolen good was sold. The police then took the two to Ms. Ratnayake's house and she slapped Mr. Abeysiri in front of other people and they were taken to the Crime Section of the Peliyagoda Police Station. At this time, the police were again in civilian clothes and they are the ones who tortured Mr. Abeysiri.

According to Mr. Asokakumara, the policemen brutally assaulted Mr. Aebysiri with cricket wickets for half an hour in front of him. One Sub Inspector came with another police officer and he also tortured Mr. Abyesiri. Mr. Asokakumara could not watch the torture because it was too brutal and he moved away from the scene for some time. When he returned to the place half an hour later, Mr. Asokakumara saw that the four policemen in civilian clothes were carrying Mr. Abeysiri's body to hospital. Mr. Asokakumara was not tortured and the police recorded his statement and released him at 7:30pm. When he asked to the police about his uncle, they said that he was hospitalized because he was sick. In the meantime, at 5:00pm, a policeman went to Mr. Abeysiri's house and asked someone to go to Peliyagoda Police Station.

When Mr. Jerome Allistace, a relative of Mr. Abeysiri, went to the police station, the police informed him that Mr. Abeysiri was sick and the police therefore took him to hospital where he died. Mr. Allistace went to the mortuary along with other people and the Assistant Judicial Medical Officer (AJMO) Dr. G.A.B. Abeysinghe in the Colombo National Hospital, who examined the victim's body, said that Mr. Abeysiri had died due to injuries. Mr. Allistace saw that there were several injuries on the victim's body, including to his head and left leg. In his postmortem report, Dr. Abeysinghe stated that it was not a natural death and that the victim died due to injuries caused by blunt instruments. The victim's body was released to the family on July 15 and his funeral took place on July 17.

[  ahrchk.net

18. July 2005

USA

ungeklärter tod einer 53jährigen frau im el paso knast / texas

WOMAN found dead in El Paso County jail

Investigators in El Paso say a 53-year-old woman who was found dead in a jail cell likely died of natural causes.Dorothy Mae Williams was found unconscious in her cell early yesterday.El Paso County Sheriff's Lieutenant Jack Waite says jail officers were unable to revive the woman. An autopsy has been ordered. Waite says there's no evidence of a crime.Williams was arrested Friday on a warrant charging her with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

[  kltv.com

17. July 2005

IRAN

ein nach einer demo festgenommener mann versuchte der folter auf der abbass-abad polzeiwache durch einen sprung aus dem zweiten stock zu entfliehen. Bei dem sturz zog err sich so schwere verletzungen zu dass er kurz darauf starb.

IRAN protestor dies in police detention - report

An Iranian man arrested for taking part in an anti-government demonstration in Tehran on Tuesday died as he was trying to escape from his torturers at a police station, a government source in the Iranian capital told Iran Focus.

Ehsan Karavi was arrested during a protest by thousands of people in support of political prisoners outside Tehran University on Tuesday. Dozens of protesters, who called for the release of jailed journalist Akbar Ganji were arrested by the State Security Forces and undercover agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security.

Karavi was taken to Abbass-Abad police station, where police interrogators put a sack around his head, beat him with truncheons and administered electric shocks to him, according to the source, who requested anonymity.

Karavi used a pause in the interrogation and jumped from the second floor to escape, but he suffered from internal bleeding when he landed and died soon afterwards. A police spokesman in Tehran, contacted by Iran Focus, said he was unaware of such an incident. The death comes days after Iran?s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed a hard-line Revolutionary Guards commander as the country?s new police chief. On Saturday, Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam told Iran's policemen that they had to "deal decisively with those who seek to undermine the Islamic Republic's security", even if it meant "using bullets".

Iranian journalists reported sighting Ahmadi Moghaddam last Tuesday outside Tehran University as he personally led the security forces? harsh crackdown on demonstrators.

[  iranfocus.com

16. July 2005

USA

ungeklärter tod eines 26 jährigen im bannock county knast / idaho

Chubbuck man dies in county jail cell

A Chubbuck man arrested on meth charges died in his Bannock County jail cell Thursday.Sheriff Lorin Nielsen said Bo Stout, 26, 420 Syphon Road, was acting "erratically" when he arrived. "Because of his behavior, he was placed on close custody," Nielsen said.

Nielsen said that Pocatello police brought Stout to the county jail at about 11:30 a.m. and when a nurse checked on him at 3:15 p.m., he had no pulse. Paramedics were called and pronounced him dead at 3:31 p.m.Stout was charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of paraphernalia, driving while suspended, repeat no-insurance and resisting arrest.

Nielsen said two Bingham County Sheriff's detectives spent all day Friday and a few hours Thursday evening investigating Stout's death. He said they interviewed all officers who were in contact with Stout between the time of his arrest and when the body was found."I'm confident with the protocol that was being followed, but I want an independent investigation done," Nielsen said. "We're having other departments do it so we can maintain our credibility."

All video footage of Stout's cell as well as jail logs were turned over to the detectives. Stout's body was taken to Portneuf Medical Center where an autopsy will be performed by the county coroner Monday. Nielsen said he hopes to know the cause of Stout's death Monday evening.Nielsen said deaths in the jail are infrequent, but he is taking it seriously because he is responsible for the well-being of inmates in his custody."He was in his cell for only four hours," Nielsen said. "It didn't appear to be a suicide."

[  journalnet.com

14. July 2005

USA

angebl. Suizid eines mannes in u-haft im boulder knast / colorado

SUSPECT in rapes hangs self in Boulder jail

A suspected serial rapist hanged himself Wednesday in the Boulder County Jail, a day before a scheduled court hearing related to his criminal case.Bradford Wagner, 37, was found hanging by a bedsheet from his bunk about 11 a.m., said Sheriff Joe Pelle.Wagner was accused last year of committing at least four rapes in Boulder, Pelle said. He also had a sexual-assault warrant out of Lakewood and a fugitive warrant from Texas, the sheriff said.

Wagner was a real-estate agent in Glenwood Springs when he was arrested. He also had worked as a gay porn actor using the name Tim Barnett in such films as "An Officer and His Gentleman," according to published reports.The rapes occurred between 1993 and 1998 in the Tantra Lake Apartments in southwest Boulder.Detectives gathered duplicate DNA samples from the rapes and sent them through a national crime database. Matches were found in Austin, Texas, and Lakewood, but no suspect had been linked to the samples.

Boulder police used databases of property owners and other public records to find people who lived in each of those three places where the assaults occurred, which led them to Wagner.An undercover detective arranged a business meeting with Wagner and obtained DNA samples from a handshake, the handlebars on his bicycle, a door handle on his car and the front doorknob at his home.Pelle said Wagner was in the cell alone when he committed suicide; his cellmate had gone out for recreation time.Wagner had been alone for about 40 minutes when he was found during a security check.

Deputies tried to resuscitate Wagner using CPR and a defibrillator, to no avail. He was pronounced dead at Boulder Community Hospital."He had been in custody for over a year, and there were no prior indications of anything like this," Pelle said.Wagner was being held in a segregated area of the jail because of the nature of the charges against him.Calls to the district attorney's office about the details of Wagner's case were not returned late Wednesday

[  denverpost.com

12. July 2005

USA

bei einem angriff durch einen anderen gefangenen im clinton county knast / michigan soll ein mann so schwer verletzt worden sein, daß er im krankenhaus starb.

OFFICIALS investigate death of inmate in Clinton County jail

Authorities on Tuesday were investigating the death of a 41-year-old inmate who was assaulted inside a cell by another inmate at the Clinton County Jail.Steven Humphrey died Sunday at Lansing's Sparrow Hospital after the assault Saturday night. Humphrey's head hit the floor after he was knocked down, law enforcement officials told the Lansing State Journal for a Tuesday story.

Sheriff Wayne Kangas declined to say what prompted the 12-second assault, which was captured by a camera inside the cell. The assault occurred minutes after Humphrey was moved into the cell as part of a routine rotation.Kangas said officers saw the fight on a monitor and responded within six seconds.

"I'm confident our officers responded quickly in doing what they're trained to do," he said.The name of the attacker, a federal inmate, was not released because he had not yet been charged in the case. He will remain isolated until the investigation is complete.The Ingham County medical examiner was expected to release a cause of death as early as Tuesday.

Humphrey, who had been free on bond while awaiting a trial on drug charges, was arrested June 14 because he violated the conditions of his bond, Sgt. Steven Nobis said.Humphrey, whose birthday was Saturday, and the other inmate were being housed in the medium-security area of the jail.The other inmate was being housed on weapons charges and has been at the jail since February.

[  freep.com

11. July 2005

USA

anggebl. suizid im douglas county knast / colorado

Inmate found dead in jail cell

An inmate at the Douglas County Jail was found dead in his cell Sunday morning. Jail officials believe the man killed himself. Sheriff's officials would not identify the inmate or reveal how he died. He arrived at the jail Thursday from a state Department of Corrections facility on a pending case in Douglas County.

[  rockymountainnews.com

11. July 2005

BRD

Zwei Tote im Gefängnis
Der Zwischenfall ist nicht der erste dieser Art

WEITERSTADT. Ein 43 Jahre alter Untersuchungshäftling der Justizvollzugsanstalt Weiterstadt hat in der Nacht zum Sonntag seinen 36 Jahre alten Zellennachbarn mit einem Handtuch erwürgt und sich anschließend die Pulsadern aufgeschnitten. Das teilte am Montag die Staatsanwaltschaft Darmstadt mit. Die Leichen der beiden Männer seien am Sonntagmorgen nach dem Aufschließen in ihrer Zelle von Justizbeamten gefunden worden.

Beide seien zu diesem Zeitpunkt bereits längere Zeit tot gewesen. Die Staatsanwaltschaft vermutet, dass die Tat in der Nacht zum Sonntag verübt wurde. Es werde in alle Richtungen ermittelt, hieß es. Man habe aber zunächst keine Hinweise auf weitere Beteiligte gefunden. Der mutmaßliche Täter wurde erst vor wenigen Tagen vom Amtsgericht Bensheim wegen schwerer Brandstiftung zu einer Haftstrafe von zwei Jahren und zehn Monaten verurteilt. Er hatte am Neujahrstag in Fürth im Odenwald zunächst seine Wohnung und dann eine darunter liegende Pizzeria angezündet. Er habe keine psychischen Auffälligkeiten oder Gewalttätigkeiten gezeigt, erklärte die Staatsanwaltschaft.

Die beiden Männer waren erst in der vergangenen Woche in einer Zelle zusammengelegt worden, weil das 36 Jahre alte Opfer „latent suizidgefährdet“ gewesen sei, teilte das Hessische Justizministerium mit. Man habe sich hierdurch eine psychische Stabilisierung des Mannes – gegen den wegen Betrugs in 26 Fällen ermittelt wurde – erhofft, so die Anstaltsleitung. Von Animositäten oder gar einer Feindschaft zwischen den beiden Männern sei nichts zu bemerken gewesen.

Der Zwischenfall ist nicht der erste dieser Art in Weiterstadt: Seit Juli 2002 haben sich bereits sechs Insassen des Gefängnisses das Leben genommen. Die hessische SPD erklärte, die zunehmende Zahl schwerer Vorfälle in der Justiz stelle Minister Christean Wagner ein schlechtes Zeugnis aus. Die Grünen forderten von dem Minister Aufklärung darüber, ob die Häftlinge psychologisch betreut worden seien. Sie legten dem CDU-Politiker einen Fragenkatalog vor.

[  echo-online.de

09. July 2005

USA

angebl. Suizid eines mannes im marion county knast / iowa

MARION County prisoner commits suicide

A prisoner being held in the Marion County jail on drunken driving and other charges has committed suicide.Michael Dean Petershagen, of rural Marion County, was found dead on Friday in his jail cell, officials with the sheriff's office said.

Preliminary autopsy results show he died of hanging.Petershagen was arrested at the Marion County Courthouse earlier Friday on warrants charging him with failure to appear for second-offense drunken driving and fourth-degree theft.As he was being taken back to jail, Petershagen briefly escaped but was caught after a short foot chase, the sheriff's office said.

Later in the afternoon, a judge ordered that Petershagen be brought back to the courthouse to appear on an escape charge. When jail staff went to Petershagen's cell, they found him and called for help, the sheriff's office said. The investigation was continuing.

[  crgazette.com