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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
<br>
May 10,
2004
<br>
<br>
CONTACTS: Jeff Garis, 267-251-2818; Nicholas Yarris
267-738-8377<br><br>
Exonerated Pa. Death Row Prisoner Nicholas Yarris Had Contact with <br>
Prison Guard Who Abused Iraqis; Calls Graner "Abusive and
Violent", <br>
Says He Was Reprimanded<br><br>
PHILADELPHIA - Nicholas Yarris, an exonerated Pennsylvania Death Row
<br>
prisoner at SCI-Greene who was released January 16, 2004, says that he
<br>
had numerous encounters with Charles A. Graner, Jr., a current employee
<br>
of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections who is pictured in photos
<br>
of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. From 1998 through
2004 <br>
Yarris was imprisoned on the death row unit at SCI-Greene where Graner
<br>
has been employed as an entry-level guard since 1996. <br><br>
A super maximum-security prison in rural southwestern Pa., SCI-Greene
<br>
has been criticized for inhumane treatment of prisoners since it opened
<br>
in 1995. In November of 1997 Pierre Sane, Secretary General of
Amnesty <br>
International, visited SCI-Greene and stated that he was "appalled
at <br>
the inhumane treatment" of prisoners, calling conditions
"debilitating <br>
and draconian." The prison was the subject of an internal
investigation <br>
by the Pa. Department of Corrections <br>
(DOC) in 1998 following numerous documented allegations of prisoner
<br>
abuse. The investigation resulted in the transfer of the prison
<br>
superintendent, the termination of two lieutenants, and disciplinary
<br>
action against about two dozen guards. The department's
then-secretary <br>
Martin Horn refused to provide details of the investigation's findings,
<br>
stating only that guards tranferring prisoners used "more force than
was <br>
necessary." Internal videotapes of the abuse were never
released to the <br>
public, and the Greene County District Attorney refused to prosecute any
<br>
of the staff involved in these assaults.<br><br>
According to Yarris, Graner was responsible for moving prisoners within
<br>
the facility and was "violent, abusive, arrogant and
mean-spirited" <br>
toward Yarris and other inmates. Yarris said he knew of several
<br>
instances in which Graner was involved in physically assaulting <br>
prisoners. Yarris also states that Graner was reprimanded by his
<br>
superiors on several occasions and was disliked by both prisoners and
<br>
other prison employees. Upon learning that Graner - a reservist
called <br>
to active duty in Iraq in May 2003 who receives a $500 per month stipend
<br>
from the DOC - was given a supervisory role at Abu Ghraib based on his
<br>
civilian training and experience in Pennsylvania, Yarris expressed <br>
disgust. <br><br>
"He was at the bottom level of prison guards," Yarris states,
"so he <br>
must've done a good job bragging to the military about what a 'big shot'
<br>
he was at [SCI-]Greene." Yarris also confirmed that, prior to
being <br>
taken out of their cells, prisoners held in Administrative Custody at
<br>
SCI-Greene were forced to strip naked in front of the transport team,
<br>
lift their genitals, and bend over for a visual
"inspection." The <br>
sexual humiliation of the prisoners at SCI-Greene is eerily similar to
<br>
the tactics used by military personnel under Graner's supervision <br>
against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.<br><br>
The report by General Taguba stated that Lt. Col. Jerry L Phillabaum,
<br>
commander of the battalion stationed at Abu Ghraib, placed the bulk of
<br>
the blame for the abuse of the prisoners on Graner and Sgt. Ivan L.
<br>
Frederick, another prison guard in civilian life. Col. Phillabaum
<br>
reportedly stated that "taking these prisoners out of their cells
and <br>
staging bizarre acts were the thoughts of a couple demented M.P.'s who
<br>
in civilian life are prison corrections officers."<br><br>
"If more aggressive investigation and a 'zero-tolerance for abuse'
<br>
policy by DOC administrators perhaps some of the inexcusable human <br>
rights abuses at Abu Ghraib might have prevented," said Jeff Garis,
<br>
executive director of Pa. Abolitionists. "I am disgusted
that Pa. <br>
taxpayers have paid Graner $6,000 over the past 12 months while he was
<br>
supervising and committing what Amnesty International has called 'war
<br>
crimes.' It's appalling that he is still an employee in <br>
good standing by our DOC." <br><br>
Pa. Abolitionists believes that the Pennsylvania DOC should immediately
<br>
begin a serious and open investigation into allegations of abuse in
<br>
Pennsylvania prisons, along with the release of all videotapes of abuse
<br>
discovered in 1998 at SCI-Greene. The 9,000-member organization is
also <br>
recommending that the DOC adopt a "zero-tolerance" policy on
abuse, <br>
immediately terminating criminal employees.<br><br>
###<br>
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