Does this sound like cruel and unusual punishment to you, or just an unreasonable search that posed an unreasonable risk to the life and health of a defendant?
In June of last year, Brian Willert, an inmate at Colorado state prison, swallowed four bags of what was thought to be heroin, after his girlfriend kissed him during a visit. Authorities then put Willert in a “dry cell” - containing no toilet or sink - and waited five and a half days for him to pass the bags.
During this time he was shackled to a chair by his legs and belly, given no sleep or exercise in a room that was lit the whole time, strip- and cavity-searched 17 times despite a guard being constantly a few feet away, and not given medical treatment on the fourth day after he tested positive for methamphetamine - the drug which was actually in the bags - even though it could have come from a leak.
Public Defender Patrick Murphy argued this week, unsuccessfully, that this was cruel and unusual punishment. Chaffee County District Court Judge Charles M. Barton, while throwing out the evidence due to an unreasonable search, only deemed it posed “an unreasonable risk to the life and health of a defendant”.
The judge noted that prison officials could have found what they wanted in a few hours by getting a court order to give him a laxative. Murphy said the use of dry cells was common but that the procurement of drugs usually takes a day.
Gary Golder, director of prisons for the Colorado Department of Corrections, stated that dry cells were used only about once a month in the entire prison system and that no one has been injured as a result; Willert, however, suffered abrasions and swollen joints.
Golder said that an investigation is now under way to determine, “Did the staff violate the policies or do something inappropriate?”, whatever the difference actually is. Presumably some sort of disciplinary action should be forthcoming, not only for the treatment meted out but also for the case being lost as a result.
That is messed up!
That is messed up!