Battleangel

A telling incident from last year that has finally been resolved. A fine example of the state of US prisons.

An inmate was shackled to a chair for five and a half days without exercise or sleep at the state prison in Buena Vista, because officials suspected him of swallowing bags of heroin and wanted to collect the evidence.

Lights in the room were never turned off, and inmate Brian Willert, 29, was strip-searched and cavity-searched 17 times, even though a guard sat a few feet away watching him constantly.

Chaffee County District Court Judge Charles M. Barton threw out the evidence - which Willert eventually managed to produce - ruling that it resulted from an unreasonable search. He said prison officials could have accomplished the same thing in a few hours by obtaining a court order to administer a laxative.

He was shackled to a chair with leg and belly chains and not allowed to lie down, the judge ruled. Lights in the 6-by-8-foot room were never turned off. He slept only occasionally for 20 minutes at a time, for a total of three hours over five and a half days, the judge found.