2015/10/17
Max Chantha | An Independent Blog
It seems that torture, whether it be used on at-risk teens or compliant prisoners, is an ongoing and regular tactic of police in modern day America.
Perhaps the best proof can be found in Mamou, Louisiana, where two consecutive police chiefs have been arrested for torturing inmates with TASERs.
Former Chiefs Gregory W. Dupuis and Robert McGee were both charged with violating and individuals civil rights when they employed a clearly routine pattern of TASERing inmates who posed no immediate threat.
Compliant inmates, who may have been verbal but followed the orders of the officers, were nevertheless TASERed as some sadistic discipline by the two officers.
One man was summoned down from his bunk and made to place his hands on the wall before the Dupuis, the highest ranked and ideally most exemplary officer on the force, deployed his TASER into the man’s back, violently shocking him and causing him to injure his knee after falling to the ground.
McGee, who worked under Dupuis and obviously adopted his sadistic methods of prisoner control, was merely engaged in conversation with an inmate when he decided to abandon logic or compassion, instead opting to TASER him mid-conversation.
This pattern of inhumane and illegal treatment of prisoners is not only a civil rights violation but a human rights violation.
It perfectly illustrates how those in leadership roles can poison those below them in the chain of command, and perpetuate violent, illegal, and unethical methods of policing.
As though fearing being detained for some frivolous, non-violent, or victimless crime wasn’t enough, Americans now have the added specter of torture to worry about.
Fortunately – and somewhat surprisingly – Dupuis has been sentenced to a year in prison, with McGee to be sentenced in the near future.
Maybe this ruling is an indication that, if full accountability and adequate punishment are ever to be achieved, it should be pursued at the highest level.
Max Chantha is a writer and investigative journalist interested in covering incidences of government injustice, at home and abroad. He is a current university student studying Global Studies and Professional Writing. Check out Max Chantha: An Independent Blog for more of his work.