eight to ten officers to [lie] on the dirty floor, forcing my face to kiss the floor. I was told in a loud ... intimidating voice, 'You will stay on the floor until you are given the order to get up.' ... I started to get up ... They rushed me with full riot gear, helmets, chest vests, gloves, shield ... After they got me to the floor they ... [stood] on my head, twist[ed] my toes, my wrist, my arms. Making little racist cracks. They ripped the clothes off which always hurts your private parts. ... While I was having my clothes ripped off there was a female [officer] filming it. Oh, and the main hallway is about a hundred yards, they ran me down the hall also naked. I had been given a jump suit but it was around my ankles, and at the door of each block were both female and male guards watching this spectacle."

RS, Starke, Florida, writing for Florida prisoners

"We other prisoners watched one of the captains hold up the prisoner, who was ... handcuff[ed] behind his back and in leg shackles, while his subordinates took turns beating him. lt looked like they were killing him. One of the guards took a broom and forced it in the prisoner's rectum and then down his throat. The last we saw they were taking him to the hospital ... Superintendent Crosby, head of Florida State Prison, supports this kind of behavior from the guards."

SWW, Hays State Prison, Trion, Georgia

"Mr. [Commissioner Wayne] Garner loudly said [to the tactical squad], 'You've got five minutes to clear out this building and four and a half is already gone.' The officers ... went wild. Doors started to open and people and property was being thrown everywhere.

"When my door opened five officers rushed in. The first officer order me to half-down and struck me in the back of the head with a retractable baton, driving me to the floor where I was then kicked in the face by a second officer, driving me back to my knees and breaking my nose ... I was beat beyond function [sic], place in zip-ties both hands and feet and dragged out onto the top range where I was [thrown] over the rails ... After I hit the floor I was swarmed by another group of officers [who] continued to beat me.

"I was taken to small yard area when I was laid face down on the concrete surface [where] I lay for 15 minutes. I was then dragged up the sidewalk by the arms. ... When I arrived ... there was no skin on my knees [or the] top of [my] feet and my penis was also scarred. I was then beat[en] by two officers."

SM, Clallam Bay Correction Center, Clallam Bay, Washington

"I am a control unit inmate off and on now for roughly three and a half years and have witnessed brutality, attempted suicide by the mentally ill and inhumane conditions of confinement: anal probes (forbidden by Washington State law), stunned with electronic shields and stun guns to the point [that] blood from broken and burnt skin flowed from the wounds ..."

Y, Rahway Ad Seg, Control Unit

"The guard had the food port open ... [and] said 'Are you going to take the medication? I should have known. The nurse was down two cells ... and I had to reach out to take it off the lid of the food slot [which] weighs twenty pounds. Wham! he slams it up just as I get my hand on the medication cup. He ... kept punching the lid. I had one foot in the toilet lo get leverage to pry it out. I got it out but slipped. [The cell door] was opened about a foot, 16 inches or so, for the nurse to take my blood pressure [He got me good in the side. broke two ribs. Internal Affairs even investigated the witness who confirmed it! [My] lawyer came with permission to take pictures but they took his camera. I had the boot heel [mark] on my rib cage!"

AO, State Correctional Institution at Smithfield, Huntington, Pennsylvania

"I'm writing to inform you of the atrocities I'm being subjected to here at the State Correctional Institution, Smithfield. I am being racially discriminated against by ... Officer Loy. He constantly refers to me as a 'nigger' and engages in other racial maltreatment ... [ln January of 2000] I was physically assaulted by Officer McVey [who] repeatedly kicked my hand ... while I had my hand out of the meal slot trying to receive my medication. This ... resulted in one of my fingers being broken. Then [in February] I was assaulted again by Officer McVey and another officer, ... Sergeant Ewing. This time my left wrist was broken when they violently yanked and twisted the handcuff on my wrist. I notified the [administration] about both of these assaults and asked to be separated from Officer McVey after the first [one] but my complaints were ignored. I also filed grievances about both of these incidents but nobody responded to my grievances. I even attempted to file criminal charges ... against these officers by writing to the County District Attorney but none of my letters [were] answered. I believe my letters to the D.A. may have been intercepted by this institution to prevent me from filing a complaint. This is a regular practice ... to deter inmates from filing civil suit or criminal complaints."

N11: Minnesota Correctional Facility, Oak Park Park Heights, Stillwater, Minnesota

"For the last year I have been warning the ombudsman ... that the guards here in the segregation unit were sadistically abusing and harassing inmates and assaulting them and that sooner or later an inmate's death would be caused by these abuses. Well, [in February], after witnesses [saw] several officers beat and spray with chemicals an inmate, ... they were seen dragging him towards a strip cell where other witnesses said he lay on the cold cement floor for five and half hours while various guards walked by laughing until they finally called paramedics. Within 24 hours [the prisoner] was pronounced dead at the hospital of what the guards are saying was a tumor in his head. One must wonder if the beating, the chemicals and denial of medical help for five and a half hours contributed to his death. I would be willing to bet if he [hadn't been] left [lying] in the floor for all those hours and given medical help he would still be alive today. So far I feel the prison and the D[epartment] O[f] C[orrection are] doing a good job of covering this up, as I have heard nothing on the news ... [T]hese control units provide an atmosphere for sadistic guards to practice their sadistic games; I've seen much back here in segregation this last year that these guards have gotten away with. God have mercy on my friend's soul."