ACLU sues GarCo jail, sheriff over inmate treatment (electroshock)

[Robb]

GLENWOOD SPRINGS -- A class action lawsuit filed Wednesday in Denver federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union claims inmates at the Garfield County Jail in Glenwood Springs were subjected to deputies’ misuse and abuse of pepperball guns, restraint chairs, Tasers, pepper spray and electroshock belts.

“The deputies are enthralled by these nifty devices,” said ACLU Legal Director Mark Silverstein. “Some of them may have a legitimate use in a detention facility, but only in strictly limited circumstances and under carefully crafted guidelines designed to control the potential for abuse and the serious risk they pose to prisoners’ health and safety.”

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The lawsuit claims that prisoners were shot with pepperballs or drenched with pepper spray and regularly strapped into a restraint chair, sometimes for hours, without being provided a chance to wash off the pepper spray.


The lawsuit also claims prisoners taken to court hearings were often forced to wear remote-controlled electroshock belts. With a push of a button, an incapacitating eight-second-long electric shock of 50,000 volts is delivered. Amnesty International has condemned the use of such devices as torture, the lawsuit said, because prisoners never know when or whether a deputy will push the button.

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