[News] Death Row Inmate's Details on Scandal

[News at freedomarchives.org]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2004

CONTACTS: Jeff Garis, 267-251-2818;  Nicholas Yarris 267-738-8377

Exonerated Pa. Death Row Prisoner Nicholas Yarris Had Contact with
Prison Guard Who Abused Iraqis;  Calls Graner "Abusive and Violent",
Says He Was Reprimanded

PHILADELPHIA - Nicholas Yarris, an exonerated Pennsylvania Death Row
prisoner at SCI-Greene who was released January 16, 2004, says that he
had numerous encounters with Charles A. Graner, Jr., a current employee
of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections who is pictured in photos
of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.  From 1998 through 2004
Yarris was imprisoned on the death row unit at SCI-Greene where Graner
has been employed as an entry-level guard since 1996.

A super maximum-security prison in rural southwestern Pa., SCI-Greene
has been criticized for inhumane treatment of prisoners since it opened
in 1995.  In November of 1997 Pierre Sane, Secretary General of Amnesty
International, visited SCI-Greene and stated that he was "appalled at
the inhumane treatment" of prisoners, calling conditions "debilitating
and draconian."  The prison was the subject of an internal investigation
by the Pa. Department of Corrections
(DOC) in 1998 following numerous documented allegations of prisoner
abuse.  The investigation resulted in the transfer of the prison
superintendent, the termination of two lieutenants, and disciplinary
action against about two dozen guards.  The department's then-secretary
Martin Horn refused to provide details of the investigation's findings,
stating only that guards tranferring prisoners used "more force than was
necessary."  Internal videotapes of the abuse were never released to the
public, and the Greene County District Attorney refused to prosecute any
of the staff involved in these assaults.

According to Yarris, Graner was responsible for moving prisoners within
the facility and was "violent, abusive, arrogant and mean-spirited"
toward Yarris and other inmates.  Yarris said he knew of several
instances in which Graner was involved in physically assaulting
prisoners.  Yarris also states that Graner was reprimanded by his
superiors on several occasions and was disliked by both prisoners and
other prison employees.  Upon learning that Graner - a reservist called
to active duty in Iraq in May 2003 who receives a $500 per month stipend
from the DOC - was given a supervisory role at Abu Ghraib based on his
civilian training and experience in Pennsylvania, Yarris expressed
disgust.

"He was at the bottom level of prison guards," Yarris states, "so he
must've done a good job bragging to the military about what a 'big shot'
he was at [SCI-]Greene."  Yarris also confirmed that, prior to being
taken out of their cells, prisoners held in Administrative Custody at
SCI-Greene were forced to strip naked in front of the transport team,
lift their genitals, and bend over for a visual "inspection."  The
sexual humiliation of the prisoners at SCI-Greene is eerily similar to
the tactics used by military personnel under Graner's supervision
against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

The report by General Taguba stated that Lt. Col. Jerry L Phillabaum,
commander of the battalion stationed at Abu Ghraib, placed the bulk of
the blame for the abuse of the prisoners on Graner and Sgt. Ivan L.
Frederick, another prison guard in civilian life.  Col. Phillabaum
reportedly stated that "taking these prisoners out of their cells and
staging bizarre acts were the thoughts of a couple demented M.P.'s who
in civilian life are prison corrections officers."

"If more aggressive investigation and a 'zero-tolerance for abuse'
policy by DOC administrators perhaps some of the inexcusable human
rights abuses at Abu Ghraib might have prevented," said Jeff Garis,
executive director of Pa.  Abolitionists.  "I am disgusted that Pa.
taxpayers have paid Graner $6,000 over the past 12 months while he was
supervising and committing what Amnesty International has called 'war
crimes.'  It's appalling that he is still an employee in
good standing by our DOC."

Pa. Abolitionists believes that the Pennsylvania DOC should immediately
begin a serious and open investigation into allegations of abuse in
Pennsylvania prisons, along with the release of all videotapes of abuse
discovered in 1998 at SCI-Greene.  The 9,000-member organization is also
recommending that the DOC adopt a "zero-tolerance" policy on abuse,
immediately terminating criminal employees.

###

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20040510/c4c6c4cc/attachment.htm>