California’s Invasive ‘Contraband Watch’ Often Yields Little

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California’s Invasive ‘Contraband Watch’ Often Yields Little
July 11, 2015 9:07 AM

SACRAMENTO (AP) — California uses a controversial method to recover contraband from inmates believed to have swallowed it or concealed it in body cavities: “potty watches” where inmates are handcuffed and shackled for days or even weeks while guards watch around-the-clock until nature takes its course.

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The watches have been used 1,200 times in the last 2½ years, yet state reports show that they produced results less than 41 percent of the time. Other large states have far less restrictive ways of searching for contraband.

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The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s inspector general reported procedural problems this spring in nearly half of the contraband watch cases his office reviewed.

Suspected smugglers are strip-searched, then placed in an isolation cell in which the toilet has been covered and the water turned off. Their clothing is taped shut at the waist and legs to prevent them from physically reaching body cavities, their hands are cuffed to a chain around their waist and their legs may be shackled. If they fight back, they can be strapped down by the arms and legs. What are known as “hand isolation devices” — similar to oven mitts — can be used with a warden’s approval.

More> http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/07/11/californias-invasive-contraband-watch-often-yields-little/#comments

I can't believe this is allowed. How could anybody that experienced this torture not experience severe psychological problems from it? And we wonder why our recidivism rates are so high.