User Comments

1. 

   8/07/08

   clioandme

   You forgot to mention that they are kept in such thing for 12 hour intervals tops.
   
   Not sure what to think. Will want to hear more about the specific cases involved.

   [reply]
2. 

   8/07/08

   Anok

   I don't what to think either. I will say that violent detainees do need to be separated from the rest of the detainees, and isolation (re: total isolation) isn't an uncommon technique for misbehaving prisoners even right here, in the US.
   
   What we don't know is:
   
   Why are these detainees violent? Is it an oppositional issue, or is it in retaliation for treatment during detainment?
   
   How long are they kept standing, in what temperatures, and are basic human needs met - the article states that food and water is given, How much food and water, what about the ability to go to the bathroom, medical treatment etc?
   
   How long is a violent prisoner kept in these segregation boxes? No more than 12 hours at a time, but for how many consecutive days? Indefinitely?
   
   My knee jerk reaction is to think it's OK, on the other hand the sneaking thought in the back of my mind is that human rights violations have happened before, there is nothing to say they won't happen again.

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3. 

   8/07/08

   jnvscnln

   Under the Geneva Conventions, the boxes are illegal torture.

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   1. 

      8/07/08

      clioandme

      How? Since I haven't memorized those, and I'm probably not alone here, maybe you could be a little more specific?
4. 

   8/08/08

   jan4insight

   My comment is,
   
   How low can we go?

   [reply]
5. 

   8/08/08

   jnvscnln

   The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and its sisters define torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity." www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm
   
   Such acts include waterboarding, prolonged sleep deprivation, induced hypothermia, stress positions, shaking and sensory deprivation and overload. Amnesty International.
   
   Clearly, overheating and confinement in an isolated space where the person cannot sit or lay for long periods of time are forms of sleep deprevation, stress positions, and overload.

   [reply]
6. 

   8/08/08

   clioandme

   Huh. DrBurst's avatar isn't the only thing gone. So is the blog on his profile page. I wonder what's up.

   [reply]
   1. 

      8/08/08

      Anok

      I noticed that too....