CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT?
Stun Belt Incident Points to Growing Concerns 

 
By Silja J.A. Talvi



	
	Ronnie 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.