A Jolt of Justice

Court Shocks the Conscience with Stun Belt

By Silja J.A. Talvi, Free Press Contributor

onnie Hawkins, a 48-year-old convicted thief facing a three-strikes sentencing hearing in Long Beach, Calif., earned the unfortunate distinction on June 30 of becoming the first defendant in Los Angeles County to be zapped with a stun belt. The offense, which merited an unexpected, excruciating 50,000 volt jolt of electricity, had nothing to do with an escape attempt or with violent behavior. Hawkins, who was acting as his own lawyer, was simply talking too much.

According to transcripts and witnesses, Municipal Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani ordered her bailiff to activate Hawkins' electronic stun belt after she had had enough of Hawkins' interruptions and loud outbursts, despite the fact that Hawkins had stayed seated, had not used profanities or threatened the judge. As several public defenders looked on with horror, Hawkins grimaced and shook uncontrollably during the administration of the electrical shock.

Judge Comparet-Cassani's actions have led to renewed calls for scientific studies of the psychological and physical impact of stun belts, as well as for bans on the use of stun belts on non-violent defendants and prisoners. Citing Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual punishment and due process concerns, The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California in July called for a permanent ban on the use of stun belts by Los Angeles County court personnel as a means of punishing or restraining non-violent defendants. Hawkins has filed a $50 million suit against Comparet-Cassani, who has since removed herself from his postponed three-strikes hearing.

Curt Goering, Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International, believes that the case of Hawkins was "a perfect example of why this kind of weaponry should be banned. Here you have a judge whose job it is to make sure that the law is applied and interpreted in a fair and objective way. You have her engaging in a totally inappropriate behavior which violates international human rights standards--it's a clear example of torture or cruel treatment of a prisoner in a courtroom."

According to Goering, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners clearly states that devices of restraint are never to be used as a punishment. Furthermore, he emphasizes, "their use when appearing before a judicial authority is prohibited."

Goering also expresses concern over the growing popularity of stun belts in the U.S. as methods of restraint and punishment, as they are now widely used within the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the U.S. Marshals service, over one hundred county agencies and at least 16 state correctional agencies. Despite originally being designed as a restraining device of last resort for extremely violent prisoners, the use of stun belts has hardly been limited to such cases. In a 1996 report, Amnesty International documented several cases in which stun belts were activated--purposely or accidentally--in situations in which defendants had not behaved violently toward court personnel. In June of 1997, stun belts were also introduced to state prisoners working on chain gangs in Madison, Wisc.

To date, very little scientific data exists on potential dangers of stun belts, which operate by delivering high-pulse currents through the prisoner's left kidney region and then traveling across the body through blood channels and nerve pathways. The shock, which causes severe pain and incapacitation, can also lead to self-defecation and urination. Without providing any specific testing details, the BOP has concluded that this technology is safe to use on the vast majority of the BOP's inmate population, with the exception of pregnant women, persons with heart disease, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, or epilepsy. The BOP has admitted that it does not conduct medical examinations of other prisoners before placing belts on them, even though other stun weapons have contributed to numerous deaths in 'healthy' adults in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.

Additional concern has been raised over the fact that stun belts are now being marketed and sold to countries with histories of torturing prisoners with electro-shock weapons. Citing a lack of oversight by the Commerce Department and by congressional bodies to regulate this kind of electro-shock technology, Goering says that Amnesty International has called for an outright ban on the export of stun belts.

Silja J.A. Talvi is a Seattle-based writer. A version of this article first appeared in In These Times.