L.A. jail tests 'intolerable heat' beam on brawling inmates

[superconnected]

Source: CNN news

Officials at a Los Angeles County jail plan to test out an invisible heat-beam weapon originally developed by the military as a way to subdue brawling inmates by making them feel "intolerable heat."

The technology, called an Assault Intervention Device, is a non lethal-weapon developed by Raytheon Company. It originally was scaled down for use at the jail.

The device "emits a focused beam of wave energy that travels at the speed of light and produces an intolerable heating sensation that causes targeted individuals to flee. The sensation immediately ceases when the targeted individual moves away from the beam," according to Raytheon's website.

Deputies have tested the device, which is controlled by a jail officer using a joystick.

Read more: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/24/l-a-jail-tests-intolerable-heat-beam-on-brawling-inmates/?hpt=C2

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Ah, these are the days of police torture.

[KansDem]

1. Don't worry! I'm ready for 'em...

But really--
a non lethal-weapon Like the Taser?
...controlled by a jail officer using a joystick Joystick? I'm sure it will be...for some officers.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Yes, the key word is joystick.

[Wilber_Stool]

11. How dare you associate Commando Cody with such a weapon.......n/t

[Matariki]

3. The words "plan to test" are particularly bothersome

guess they'll just have to incite an incident while they're itching to play with their 'joystick'.

Sometimes, i swear, we are fucked as a culture.

[TheWatcher]

4. Wow. I am so envious of those lucky inmates. To have the honor and privilege of being

such Guinea Pigs for The Police State.

Do Not Worry or be impatient though, General Public.

You'll be getting this honor soon enough.

[Plucketeer]

5. I don't get it.

What's the complaint about this thing? What's the alternatives - injured or dead inmates and guards? Would that be the better outcome??? Prisons are feeling the econominc pinch like everything else. Maybe some folks would volunteer for a "adopt-an-inmate" program where you house, feed, and humanely treat as inmate as you see fit. OR.... we could institute measures that let less guards deal with critical situations.

[EFerrari]

6. We have more people behind bars than anyone

on the planet. And Raytheon is in the business of bilking fed, state and county governments.

What say we stop imprisoning non-violent "offenders" for walking around with a joint?

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to complain about the prison industry.

[Alcibiades]

8. We could legalize pot

For starters. Or we could put more non-violent offenders on supervised release with electronic monitoring.

I have a lot of friends who work in corrections, and they don't need this to prevent or break up riots. The main thing is to adequately staff the prisons we have.

[psychopomp]

33. There's pot in prisons already, and it isn't a panacea anyhow.

Case in point: Jamaica.

[Alcibiades]

34. Just saying it could alleviate some of the overcrowding

Low staff ratios and the other things that promote chaos in the prison facilities of the various states.

[TalkingDog]

14. How about not stacking charges so that police get the maxiumum sentence

for petty crimes.

How about rehabilitation instead of punishment.

How about starting in neighborhoods where crime is rampant and getting little kids into activities so they'll be less attracted to gangs.

Plus what all the other posters said....

[Matariki]

17. Because it's a fucking torture device, which the police in general aren't to be trusted with.

Because we shouldn't be treating people like animals, torturing people with electric shocks or TESTING 'intolerable heat beams' on prisoners like they were fucking lab animals. What is this, Auschwitz? What have we become?

[provis99]

21. they will be using this thing for torture soon enough.

You think tasers haven't been abused?

[Blue_Tires]

23. Because it won't be long before this toy gets used/abused against regular civilians...

[Plucketeer]

26. Yes, I was horribly wrong on this!

We should revert to billy clubs and firearms - much more humane. Or maybe just give daily allotments of weed, so there ain't no altercations to have to deal with!

The argument about committing less minor offenders off the hook? I couldn't agree more - so get going and change the laws. In the MEAN TIME....

[Blue_Tires]

29. i understand your point

i'm just saying the cops haven't even shown they can properly use tasers on a consistent basis yet... Once they start using this toy on the street with its subsequent "accidents", watch out...

[Rex]

42. So whatever happen to pepper spray and mace?

Just can't hose down an inmate with enough of that stuff or how about tazers? I'm just thinking 'torture device' and not 'crowd control' like everyone else here...cept evidently you. Go fig huh.

[psychopomp]

32. I don't get it either.

As things stand, guards have to shoot people when things get out of control. This is a better alternative, at least on paper.

[superconnected]

38. We've made it this far without this new form of torture, we can make it further.

Until they find something that does not torture someone, I'm against it.

[superconnected]

7. This is what happens when we allow torture abroad - we get it here.

Now get yourself in a condition like this:

Getting arrested for nothing - Eric Prince's mother lies about a code pink member not leaving when being asked. And voila you're in the hands of the police.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/23-4

[Alcibiades]

9. And how many MPs did the military train to torture?

At least two of the Abu Ghraib guards were COs in civilian life, but no one addresses how this will work the other way around: the military police are a big feeder for civilian law enforcement across the country. You're exactly right: teaching folks to torture, and telling them such things as waterboarding are not torture, will result in torture here at home.

[tomm2thumbs]

10. playing Sarah Palin speaking at full volume has the same effect

but really, we have outlawed cruel and unusual punishment, no?

[JDPriestly]

12. That is cruel and unusual punishment, if anything is.

That is total mind control. Instead of using them in a jail, we should outlaw them.

[MorganaSeawalker]

13. Ovens anyone?

Ooppps fried inmate...joy stick slipped.

[pscot]

15. Just knowing the cops can set me on fire from a safe distance

gives me a warm feeling. Boy I hope this new, um, technology doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

[superconnected]

19. Of course, it already has.

[gvstn]

16. Have you microwaved your cat? Jobs available!

[Evasporque]

18. Prison also reported three small fires in the exercise yard.

No connection in the testing of heat ray and fires of unknown origin.

[superconnected]

20. Of course it's for law enforcements protection... always the claim when hurting others now a days

Torture causes all kinds of mental problems. This and stun-guns should be outlawed. I'm going to go so far as compare this to rape - having something done to you physically against your will.

--------
"We believe that technology can help solve problems facing the corrections community, including addressing issues of inmate violence," Sheriff Lee Baca said during a news conference. "The Assault Intervention Device appears uniquely suited to address some of the more difficult inmate violence issues without the drawbacks of tools currently available to us."

"This device will allow us to quickly intervene without having to enter the area and without incapacitating or injuring either combatant," Baca added.

[Kelvin Mace]

22. Ah, a new toy for extracting confessions

er, ...I mean, persuading suspects to admit their misdeeds.

[friendly_iconoclast]

37. No shit! Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to mention it.

"Prisoner M-4227043 would like to speak to the ADA about some unsolved crimes. Those burns? Too much time in the yard without
a shirt...."

[savalez]

24. I like the idea of non-lethal weapons but this does kinda freaks me out.

But a beanbag to the head kinda sucks too. I suppose anything's better than a bullet in these circumstances.

[Devil_Fish]

25. they will use it on people tied down to bunks who can't flee. leave them there for hours. NT

[The Flaming Red Head]

27. Louisiana Jail Holds Suicidal Prisoners in "Squirrel Cages"

Louisiana Jail Holds Suicidal Prisoners in "Squirrel Cages"

Mentally ill prisoners deserve more care and consideration while incarcerated, but time and again, the ACLU often finds the exact opposite: they're treated even worse than the general population. Today, the ACLU of Louisiana sent a letter to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain and Parish President Kevin Davis asking them — horrifyingly enough — to stop treating suicidal prisoners like animals.
St. Tammany Parish officials have a policy of locking suicidal prisoners in 3-by 3-foot metal cages that prison staff call "squirrel cages." After prisoners are deemed suicidal, they're stripped half-naked and put in the cages without a bed, blanket, shoes or toilet. Requests to use the bathroom are often ignored by guards, so prisoners urinate in milk cartons, or soil themselves inside the cage. Some prisoners reported being forced to wear bright orange, Daisy Duke-style shorts with the words "HOT STUFF" scrawled across the backside.

http://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/louisiana-jail-holds-suicidal-prisoners-squirrel-cages


Torture is torture, hi-tech or the old fashioned way treating people like animals

[tblue37]

46. And how does this make them feel less suicidal? It reminds me of

an old form of punishment for attempted suicide: execution.

[ProudDad]

28. This bloody thing is over 7 feet tall and PERMANENTLY

anchored in a room that looks remarkably like a torture chamber.

They CANNOT wheel it around to the nearest "riot" to subdue the "inmates" without harm...

They must drag the "inmates" to the torture chamber where it's permanently located and then "teach them a lesson"...

USAmerika is the most fucked up country on Earth when it comes to crime and punishment. USAmerika left logic and safety WAY behind when it embraced its policy of vengeance over all things.

Fucked up place, USAmerika...

[BillH76]

30. 200 inmate brawl

From the article: "The device was installed and is being tested at Pitchess Detention Center at the L.A. County jail in Castaic, California. That jail was the site of a 200-inmate brawl this weekend...."

This puts a different light on it for me. Most of the violence in jails is inmate-on-inmate. If this machine can help to reduce inmate violence, I'm for it. Zap 'em.

[Downwinder]

31. How does it respond to reflective surfaces or metal grids?

[nc4bo]

35. How long before they use it on unjailed Americans?

Another potential tool to be used (or more than likely abused) by the Police State.

Heat ray: When tear gas and rubber bullets just aren't good enough.

[Downwinder]

36. The sonic cannons are already in use, so I would say,

with the next round of demonstrations. 2011 or 2012.

[superconnected]

39. Wait until they use it on protesters en masse.

[cigsandcoffee]

40. Maybe it's better than rifles and batons.

It's creepy, sure, but perhaps the idea is to avoid traditional - and more violent and physically damaging - methods of subduing people. The alternative to this kind of stuff isn't flowers and teddy bears, you know.

[Rex]

41. Well ain't that sweet? The days of the New Dark Age are approaching.

Come...we roast marshmallows next to Ralph's still burning corpse! Notice how they had to 'dial back' on the pain and intensity of the beam source...meaning turned up higher it can roast a person before they can move. Roasted inmate, anyone?

[Supply Side Jesus]

43. Riots?

I'm sure the same people crying about the use of the new tech would be up in arms should the riots caused any deaths or god forbid a hostage situation... cry me a river. Perhaps they should have opted for lethal? Then what? This type of non-lethal weapon is ideal for detention situations. No physical harm?
I invite you to you tube prison riot footage, and see what a nice prison made shank can do...

[UpInArms]

44. "controlled by a jail officer using a joystick"

yeah - a "joystick" - for that controlling officer who will get their jollies by "playing" with the inmates.

give me such a warm fuzzy I can't stand it.

[struggle4progress]

45. Yay! A gigantic magic microwave beamer! Now we don't have to worry

about taser barbs landing in eyeballs or testes accidentally: we can just deep-fry those little suckers using Raytheon's gigantic magic microwave beamer!