Inmate deaths reveal ’torturous’ use of Tasers
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) Corporal Matthew Stice pointed his Taser at Martini Smith bare chest.
Smith was 20 years old, pregnant and stripped nearly naked, standing in a cell in the Franklin County jail in Columbus, Ohio. She had been detained on charges of stabbing moncler sale outlet a boyfriend she accused of beating her. Stice and a deputy had ordered her to disrobe, take off all jewelry and don a prison gown. But she hadn been able to obey one command remove the silver cheap moncler sale stud from her tongue.
the tongue ring out, Deputy Shawnda Arnold said. Smith continued struggling to unscrew the ring, inserting fingers from both hands into her mouth. No luck. Her fingers were numb, she protested: She had been cuffed for six hours with her hands behind her back.
will Tase you, Stice said. The ring was slippery, Smith said, asking for a paper towel. The deputies refused. just want to go to sleep, Smith cried.
moncler sale outlet Stice warned her again, then fired. The Taser electrified darts struck Smith chest; she collapsed against the concrete wall and slid to the floor, gasping, arms over her breasts. moncler sale outlet
moncler outlet online did you Tase me? she moaned. wasn harming nobody. I can just take it out. moncler outlet online
moncler outlet sale Five days later, Smith had a miscarriage. moncler outlet sale
cheap moncler outlet stays with me like it was yesterday, Smith said of the monlcer down jackets Taser pain and the memory of her loss of the child. moncler mens jackets The charges against her in the domestic violence case were dismissed. prisons and jails. cheap moncler outlet
cheap moncler Reuters identified 104 deaths involving Tasers behind bars, nearly all since 2000 10 percent of a larger universe of more than 1,000 fatal law enforcement encounters in which the weapons were used. Some of the in custody deaths were deemed with no distinct cause, and some were attributed to pre existing health problems. But the Taser cheap moncler jackets was listed as a cause or contributing factor in more than a quarter of the 84 inmate deaths in which the news agency obtained autopsy findings. cheap moncler
moncler factory outlet Of the 104 inmates who died, just two were armed. A third were in handcuffs or other restraints when stunned. In more than two thirds of the 70 cases in which Reuters was able to gather full details, the inmate already was immobilized when shocked pinned to the ground or held by officers. moncler factory outlet
moncler jackets outlet The cases reflect a fundamental challenge of using Tasers in correctional settings: The weapons, designed to control violent or threatening suspects on the street, have fewer legitimate uses behind bars, where prisoners typically are confined in a cell, often moncler outlet restrained and almost never armed. While Tasers can be an effective way to stop an assault on a guard or another inmate, veterans of the corrections system say the weapons too frequently are used on people who pose no imminent physical threat. prisons and jails. you inflict pain, cheap moncler serious pain, for the singular purpose of inflicting pain, not to accomplish a tactical objective, what is that? It meets the definition of the legal standard of excessive force, but it also torturous. moncler jackets outlet
cheap moncler jackets The stun guns manufacturer says they are an effective tool for jail and prison guards who typically do not carry guns and have few other force options for controlling combative inmates, Moncler Outlet often in close quarters. cheap moncler jackets
moncler outlet Tasers can correctional environments significantly safer for all parties, said Steve Tuttle, vice president of communications for Axon Enterprise Inc, which changed its name this year from Taser International. The company hears feedback that our products are having a significant impact in reducing the number of violent incidents and the number of injuries in correctional settings, he said. moncler outlet
moncler outlet jackets Axon provides detailed warnings on the risks associated with Tasers, Tuttle added. But it up to jail and prison administrators to adopt and enforce policies that ensure the weapons are handled properly. moncler outlet jackets
moncler jacket sale When Tasers are misused in correctional settings, taxpayers also pay a price: 68 percent of the 104 inmate fatalities identified by Reuters led to wrongful death lawsuits against cheap moncler coats the county or municipality moncler outlet store responsible for https://www.moncler-jacket-outlet.com the jail. And families or estates of the deceased won payouts in 93 percent of those cases, a far higher success rate than in lawsuits over such deaths outside jails. moncler jacket sale
cheap moncler jackets sale The potential for abusing prisoners with Tasers has grown dramatically. prison population has exploded from 500,000 to 2.2 million in a tiered confinement system from highly secured federal and state prisons for convicted felons to often overcrowded local and county jails mostly holding misdemeanor offenders or people charged but not convicted. cheap moncler jackets sale
moncler outlet store Mindful of the safety and liability risks in prison settings, many larger correctional institutions bar stun guns. federal prison system doesn use them. Nearly half the nation state prison systems don either. moncler outlet store
Yet Tasers remain widely used in local jails, which house about cheap moncler outlet a third of all American prisoners and whose administrators often struggle to contain systematic abuse of the weapon.
No national standards govern the use of Tasers in jails and prisons. The accreditation standards of the American Correctional Association, the industry trade group, do not address the weapons.
MARKETING CHALLENGE When Taser International Inc began shouldering its way into the corrections world in the mid 2000s, it moncler outlet sale looked like a promising new market at a challenging time for the manufacturer.
moncler sale Sales of the company signature stun gun were flagging. They would fall nearly 30 percent in 2005 amid a spate of moncler outlet online lawsuits alleging the weapons were killing people accusations the company disputed. By that fall, Taser stock had tumbled from a 2004 high of $31 per share to just $5 per share. moncler sale
cheap moncler coats In 2006, Taser hired Paul Hughes, a barrel chested ex Marine, to lead its push into corrections. Hughes, who left Taser in late 2009, said the new market demanded a new pitch. Police saw Tasers as offensive weapons; corrections officials wanted a defensive tool and one that couldn be used against guards if inmates got hold of it. cheap moncler coats
Taser reshaped its message for prison administrators, hired new staff and sent representatives to corrections trade shows, the company regulatory filings show. The company also developed a special accessory for corrections: a patented lanyard that deactivated the Taser if a prisoner wrestled it from a guard.
Taser targeted two potential customers: the federal prison system, which holds some 185,000 inmates in 122 facilities, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which houses about 126,000 inmates in 34 facilities.
Eric Young, president of the Council of Prisons Locals, representing 30,000 employees in federal prisons, said when union members asked federal prison officials about getting Tasers, they typically got two responses. use them on some people, and some people just don recover and buy moncler jackets they die, Young said. And, someone used it inappropriately, they could be sued.
In 2008, the California Department of Corrections ran a 90 day field test with Taser X26 stun gun and a subset of elite officers tasked with field investigations, such as apprehending escapees, department records show.