James Stewart survives torture in LA County jail - hypothermia, food deprivation, raw human sewage

[Dawn Marie]

[Dawn Marie]

Details from the interview include:

* How James was subjected to severe food deprivation.

* How he was interrogated by deputies and accused of being a "sovereign," then branded with a red arm band (Nazi-style) to falsely indicate that he was a danger to the general population.

* How James was shackled in long chains wrapped around his waist multiple times, then had his hands cuffed behind his back which was bound to the heavy waist chain to restrict his movement. His handcuffs were so tight he thought his wrists would break.

* James was then handcuffed to a cold bench, restricting his movement to just six inches, then left on the bench for 4-5 hours.

* James was then forcibly subjected to various medical tests, including forced chest X-rays even while he was handcuffed.

* He was placed in a cold cell wearing only a T-shirt and pants, where he soon began to suffer from hypothermia and found himself violently shivering just to stay alive.

* How he was made to suffer through total sleep deprivation all night long as other prisoners were screaming and banging on the walls.

* His cell was then flooded with raw human sewage, which flowed into his jail cell 2-3 inches deep, covering his shoes and shirt. LA County jail guards then ordered James to clean up all the raw sewage in his cell by handing him a small hand-held squeegee and demanding that he squeegee out all the raw sewage himself (which he reluctantly did).

* He was then forced to stay in the putrid raw sewage cell for over 30 hours, fighting off nausea and living in bacteriological filth that threatened his health.

* All along, the LA County prison guards gloated over their treatment of prisoners while laughing and joking about their power to subject prisoners to such abuse. This behavior openly mimics that of Gitmo guards who took pictures gloating over their torture and murder of prisoners of war.

* During this entire process, James was not allowed a single phone call nor any visit from an attorney. His right to speak to an attorney was repeatedly denied.

* At no point was James notified of what he was being charged with. He was never presented with an arrest warrant nor were any charges explained to him.

* James was mysteriously "lost" in the system and LA County officials claimed they did not know where he was. This was apparently a deliberate attempt to subject an individual to drawn-out torture without legal representation and make sure no one could locate them to check on their health or arrest status.

[Birgitta]

Sounds like he was treated like any random arrestee in LA on a given day. That is, one without money or contacts. No surprises here. Still, it must be a huge shock to an average law-abiding citizen who has never had contact with that world.

[Dawn Marie]

Considering it's L.A. you could be and probably are right; meaning it was any given day in the L.A. prison.  But if they are operating like this they have thrown out due process and the constitutional rights of those who are caught in their mini hell hole.  It has the stink of the new NDAA all over it, but I suspect they have been operating like this for some time unchecked.

I feel bad for this poor guy though. 65 years old and treated like that for selling milk.  It just baffles the mind.