Posted: March 3, 2012 in Prisoners stories
14,000 New Zealanders are sent to prison on remand every year. Mr Dotcom was also on remand, denies he has done anything illegal, and appears to have a good case. But according to the NZ Herald, he was treated like a convicted criminal. He reports that on the first night he wasn’t allowed blankets or toilet paper and was woken up every two hours. The mattresses used by prisoners are really thin (about two inches) and the beds are solid concrete. Most prisoners find them uncomfortable – let alone someone as big as Dotcom. In other words he was subject to sleep deprivation – which he said felt like torture.... read more
http://brookingblog.com/2012/03/03/sleep-deprivation-and-pain-medication-the-torture-of-kim-dotcom/
Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom recently spent a month in the Auckland Central Remand prison (ACRP) after the US government persuaded New Zealand police that his file sharing company, Megaupload, was infringing US copyright laws. ACRP is run by Serco, an international conglomerate which runs prisons in a number of countries including New Zealand. In Britain, Serco prisons have been criticised for institutional meanness and forcing prisoners to sleep in toilets. In 2011, the company was criticised over the suicide of a 14 year old boy who was mistreated by staff in one of its British prisons. Serco also runs the overcrowded Australian Federal Detention Centre for asylum seekers at Christmas Island. In November 2010, 230 asylum seekers in the island prison began a hunger strike; 20 prisoners sewed their lips together and one Iraqi Kurd, a man in his 30s attempted to commit suicide. In 2011, the New Zealand Government allowed Serco to take over the management of ACRP which is primarily used to hold prisoners on remand.
14,000 New Zealanders are sent to prison on remand every year. Mr Dotcom was also on remand, denies he has done anything illegal, and appears to have a good case. But according to the NZ Herald, he was treated like a convicted criminal. He reports that on the first night he wasn’t allowed blankets or toilet paper and was woken up every two hours. The mattresses used by prisoners are really thin (about two inches) and the beds are solid concrete. Most prisoners find them uncomfortable – let alone someone as big as Dotcom. In other words he was subject to sleep deprivation – which he said felt like torture.... read more
http://brookingblog.com/2012/03/03/sleep-deprivation-and-pain-medication-the-torture-of-kim-dotcom/
