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Posted by: kwflatbed

The Associated Press


NEW YORK- Five U.S. state prison systems allow the use of trained attack dogs to control inmates - a practice that until now has been kept secret in American prisons - according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday.

"The entire world has seen the photo of an Abu Ghraib detainee crouched in terror before a snarling dog, but the use of attack dogs against prisoners here in the U.S. has been a well-kept secret," said Jamie Fellner, U.S. director of Human Rights Watch. "Longtime corrections professionals were appalled when we told them that guards in some states use dogs on prisoners."

The report, "Cruel and Degrading: The use of dogs for cell extractions in U.S. prisons," says policies exist in Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, South Dakota and Utah that allow guards to use "aggressive, unmuzzled" dogs to order inmates out of their cells when they refuse to leave. Dogs are ordered to bite prisoners if they resist.

"Human Rights Watch knows of no other country in the world that authorizes the use of dogs to attack prisoners who will not voluntarily leave their cells," the report said. The group does not object to the use of dogs to patrol prison grounds.

The report notes that in South Dakota, Utah and Delaware, dogs are rarely used in cells, if at all. In Connecticut, dogs were used in 20 cases in 2005, and in Iowa in 63 cases between March 2005 and March 2006.

Human Rights Watch interviewed prison officials in Connecticut and Iowa who said using dogs to remove prisoners from cells reduces injuries to guards and keeps prisons safer.

But Kathleen Dennehy, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, said her state stopped using dogs in cells this year because there are other effective alternatives.

"There are other ways to compel inmates to cuff up than sending in an animal to rip his flesh," she told Human Rights Watch.

Arizona also dropped its dog in cells policy this year.

"We welcome these decisions and urge the corrections departments of Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, South Dakota and Utah to follow suit," the report said.




Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Posted by: SOT

Why not? I would rather a dog take a shiv than a CO.

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Posted by: justanotherparatrooper

I can see theyre point...look at all the disease the dogs could get biting one of those turds! Its just not fair. Gotta love a shield with a taser.

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Posted by: dcs2244

Too right! Why should a dog be poisoned by one of these shitling prisoners? Talk about e.coli spinach...Spinach salad should be the roughage of choice for every prisoner meal.

Prisoners...better dead than alive.

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Posted by: Andy0921

Yeah I don't want the dogs to be sick, but I don't mind them tearing the shit out of some douche bag child molester. I can't wait to be a k-9 officer!

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Posted by: Tackleberry22

I can guarantee you that if we threw these limp dicks into a maximum security prison to patrol for the week; two things would happen. 1) they wouldn't make it past day three and 2) they would certainly change their mind about having k-9's. Once again a bunch of liberals with no clue to back up their retarded statement. I wonder if they are a Deval Patrick supporter?

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