[prisoner-rights] USA: Attack dogs used against prisoners

Worst Offenders Are State Prisons in Connecticut and Iowa

(New York, October 11, 2006) -- Five state prison systems in the United
States permit the use of aggressive, unmuzzled dogs to terrify and even
attack prisoners in efforts to remove them from their cells, Human Rights
Watch said today in a new report.

The 20-page report, "Cruel and Degrading: The Use of Dogs for Cell
Extractions in U.S. Prisons (http://hrw.org/reports/2006/us1006/),"
publicly reveals this practice for the first time. It also shows that the
practice is not only cruel, but wholly unnecessary as there are safer,
more humane alternatives that corrections officers can use -- and most
across the country do use -- to remove prisoners from their cells.

In Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, South Dakota and Utah, if a prisoner will
not voluntarily leave his cell when ordered to do so, officers may bring a
trained attack dog to the cell front to terrify the prisoner into
compliance. If the prisoner still refuses, the dog is let into the cell to
bite the prisoner. While the prisoner tries to fend off the dog,
correctional officers place restraints on him and then remove him from the
cell.

"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,
director of the U.S. Program of Human Rights Watch. "Longtime corrections
professionals were appalled when we told them that guards in some states
use dogs on prisoners."

The state prison systems in Connecticut and Iowa frequently use dogs for
cell extractions. In Utah, they have been used extremely rarely. In
Delaware and South Dakota, although state corrections policies permit the
use of dogs for cell extractions, prison officials say they are not in
fact used for this purpose.

Corrections officials in Connecticut and Iowa insist the use of attack
dogs is justified because they deter prisoner misconduct and reduce staff
injuries. But 45 other states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons reject
their views.

The Arizona and Massachusetts prison systems formerly used dogs for cell
extractions. In early 2006, both states ended the practice after a review
of their use of force policies. The commissioner of the Massachusetts
Department of Correction, Kathleen Dennehy, said that there are other ways
to get an inmate to follow orders "than sending in an animal to rip his
flesh."

Dogs are frequently used in the United States and elsewhere to patrol
prison perimeters and to search for contraband.

"We know of no other country in the world where officers use attack dogs
to remove prisoners from their cells," said Fellner. "State prison
officials in these five states should adopt the more humane methods that
their colleagues across the country already use."

Human Rights Watch Press release