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Despite being a US citizen Jose Padilla has been held indefinitely in a Naval brig in North Carolina. He has never been charged. And hasn’t seen a lawyer. CNN News
[Jose] Padilla alleged that he was subjected to prolonged isolation; deprivation of light; exposure to prolonged periods of light and darkness, including being ‘periodically subjected to absolute light or darkness for periods in excess of twenty-four hours’; extreme variations in temperature; sleep adjustment; threats of severe physical abuse; death threats; administration of psychotropic drugs; shackling and manacling for hours at a time; use of 'stress' positions; noxious fumes that caused pain to eyes and nose; loud noises; withholding of any mattress, pillow, sheet, or blanket; forced grooming; suspensions of showers; removal of religious items; constant surveillance; incommunicado detention, including denial of all contact with family and legal counsel for a 21-month period; interference with religious observance; and denial of medical care for ‘serious and potentially life-threatening ailments, including chest pain and difficulty breathing, as well as for treatment of the chronic, extreme pain caused by being forced to endure stress positions’. United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, May 2012
The move to allow detention of suspects for thirty days is a direct blow at habeas corpus, which is meant to prevent anyone being held without charge. What’s more Labour and Tory governments have seriously discussed limiting jury trial. The prime minister himself clearly thinks that he knows better than centuries of British tradition ... How is it that these benevolent liberal-minded people have ended up presiding over the current bonfire of liberties? Dispatches: Stealing Away Your Freedom, Channel 4 2009
The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law and particularly to deny him the judgement of his peers is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist. Winston Churchill
For the first time since he came to power Tony Blair lost a vote in the House of Commons. But he still managed to increase the pre-charge detention to twenty-eight days. Taking Liberties
Police in China can do whatever they want; after 81 days in arbitrary detention you clearly realise that they don’t have to obey their own laws. In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want – not only you, your whole family and all people like you. Ai Weiwei
One of the things that concerns me is the lack of adult supervision, and more specifically, caring adult supervision, at various reform schools and juvenile detention centres. I think there’s a kind of Darwinian brutality that can run rampant when kids are given power, and if you’re on the wrong end of the pecking order, things can be very scary. Adam Rapp
What made Guantanamo such a travesty – and what still makes it such – is that it is a system of indefinite detention whereby human beings are put in cages for years and years without ever being charged with a crime. Glenn Greenwald
During the week of the invasion more than 18,000 who fled from the areas of attack were forced into temporary detention centres created by the US forces. The Panama Deception, 1992
The detention of migrants is a multi-billion-dollar industry, one in which immigrants are traded like products: they are for sale to the highest bidder. Who benefits and who profits? Immigrants for Sale, Brave New Films, 2015
Corrections Corporation of America, The Geo Group and Management and Training Corporation combined own over 200 facilities in the nation, with over 150,000 bed spaces for a total profit of close to $5 billion per year. ibid.
Why did Roberto Martinez Die in Detention? ibid. protest banner
Alec: A corporate-funded right-wing organization in charge of writing custom-made legislation. ibid. news
The President of the United States of America is still authorised without further approval by Congress to determine an event of insurrection within the United States and to declare the existence of an Internal Security Emergency. Punishment Park, opening scene, 1971
… 15 to 25 years in a federal penitentiary; you have the alternative of undergoing 4 days in Punishment Park. How do you choose? ibid. judge
The grievous charge of conspiracy to undermine the national security. ibid.
Do you want me to tell you what’s immoral? War is immoral, poverty is immoral, racism is immoral, police brutality is immoral, oppression is immoral, genocide is immoral, imperialism is immoral: this country represents all those things. ibid.
Then I got a job here at a place you’ve probably never heard of: Brook House. It’s an immigration removal centre although it looks and feels more like a prison. Panorama: Undercover: Britain’s Immigration Secrets, BBC 2017
The staff was confronting drug abuse, self harm and suicide attempts. I saw some foreign criminals fresh out of prison terrorising asylum seekers who had never been inside. And I saw some staff abusing men locked up here. ibid.
A completely toxic atmosphere. ibid.
The asylum seekers and the hardline criminals … The Home Office doesn’t insist on segregation. ibid.
Drugs are everywhere in Brook House. ibid.
Broadmoor: A word that makes people shiver. Most think that Broadmoor is a prison: in fact it’s a high-secure psychiatric hospital and home to some of the country’s most dangerous and violent offenders. Broadmoor: Inside Britain’s Highest Security Mental Hospital, ITV 2014
Many won’t even admit to working here. ibid.
Many of the men here have been front-page news. ibid.
This is Cranfield – the intensive care ward. ibid.
All of the men in Broadmoor present a grave and immediately risk to the public … They have no release date. ibid.
Broadmoor can feel like a ghost town. ibid.
The reminder of the threat of violence is ever-present. ibid.
‘Cut my own throat a couple of times.’ ibid. ‘Alex’
Food is the only thing they have free rein over. ibid.
It costs £300,000 a year to keep a patient in Broadmoor. ibid.
Whenever force is used, staff take time out to re-appraise. On average there are five physical assaults a week on staff. ibid.
Broadmoor is home to 200 men, each carefully assigned to one of fifteen wards. ibid.
After many critical reports the government sent in new managers to reform the hospital. Inside Broadmoor, Channel 5 2002
In 2000 Broadmoor used arm and leg shackles as part of the treatment for a mentally retarded man. ibid.
It costs £60 million a year and has 1,200 staff. ibid.
Broadmoor let Dadd have a studio. ibid.
When a patient escaped the local schools were closed. ibid.
‘Three pairs of size-ten boots started to go into me.’ ibid. ex-patient
People still had to slop out. ibid.
After the allegations of the 1980s the government set up the Mental Health Act Commission to protect patients’ rights. ibid.
We’ve talked to seven ex-patients: all complain of neglect or abuse. ibid.
Seclusion is still a problem we discovered. ibid.
In wars throughout the 20th century captivity stripped soldiers of their physical and emotional freedom. Some of them survived; others perished, and many more were permanently altered by their experiences as prisoners of war. Secrets of War s1e47: Prisoners of War Part I: The Barbed Wire Front, History 1998
Many ignored these statutes and resorted to torture. ibid.
The Japanese did not follow the terms of the 1929 Geneva Convention. ibid.