RE: INCIDENT AT LUNCHTIME, SUNDAY,7 MAY,2006
The incident was precipitated by the incompetence, and grossly unreasonable behaviour, of Detention Custody Manager, JOHN PALMER. He repeatedly shoved and bullied, the inmate involved, over a meagre portion of *extra chips,* that the inmate wanted to have. And despite the detainee's insistence that the manager stopped shoving him, the manager persisted with the bullying and the inmate refused to leave the cafeteria point, until he had the chips he felt he was entitled to.
When the detainee succeed in getting his chips, the manager had no need to call for reinforcements, because there had been no other word said, nor any violence at that time. But in an unnecessary show of force, six officers appeared to "escort" the detainee to solitary confinement ("the block"). The detainee came out of his cell without any resistance, and *quietly* followed the DCOs out of the wing.
All of a sudden at the other side of the door, the officers resorted to beating the detainee, in full view of all inmates standing at the wing side of the door, and at the cafeteria point.
Obviously due to the current level of pent up frustration among detainees, the sight of such unnecessary violence of six men beating one man, was too much and it drove his fellow countrymen to shouting and attempting to force the door open, to go to the aid of their friend, and countryman.
In an attempt to control the detainee's irate countrymen, further reinforcements of officers were called, and a further six of them descended on the inmate trying to force the door. And in the process put him in a choke hold, and proceeded to repeatedly punch and beat him in full view of the whole population of the wing, that at this time were highly agitated.
The detainee's screaming when his arm seemed to have been broken, was the final stroke and other inmates moved in to prevent the officers doing him more damage.
Other officers, most notably security supervisor PETER ROSS started physically assaulting, punching, and kicking other detainees who were trying to calm their colleagues.
This grossly incompetent and violent methods of the officers, was a violation of fundamental rights of these detainees to say the least, and it was this attitude that, solely, set alight, what the officers should have known was a very volatile situation.
In response to the home office release, we resent the insinuation that the detainees assaulted officers, and state categorically that the purported "care towards detainees" is severely overstated, as it is grossly negligent to say the least.
We wish to observe here that the home office is pursuing a policy of psychological and physical suppression of detainees, by making unsubstantiated allegations, and casting aspersions on the character of detainees. The brutal suppression and punishments of inmates who express any sort of complaint, or disagreement with the violation of their fundamental rights, clearly shows the elaborate lengths the home office will go to keep the barbaric human rights violations, perpetrated in detention centers, under cover, and hidden from public, and international attention.
We would like to warn, that this policy is accelerating the psychological degeneration of indefinitely detained men, who are becoming increasingly aggravated, and as a result tending to more, and more violent demonstrations, in these centres.
An example is the beating of the inmates in question, on Sunday, and the witnessing by so many detainees of the nurse using some needle and syringe on the inmate while he was held down by officers. Most inmates regard this as torture and the fear this has generated among inmates is palpable, and obviously can only find expression in violent resistance. Many inmates are willing to testify to what they witnessed if they are guaranteed security from the officers.
We believe a violent culmination of these demonstrations, could be inevitable, and if allowed to happen would be embarrassing to the people, and government of the U.K .
The witch-hunt that took place at midnight, during which marked inmates were arbitrarily arrested and locked in solitary confinement, has also served only to compound the simmering animosity, within most detainees.
We urge the management, and the home office to desist from victimising detainees, and concentrate on putting their own house in order, instead of passing the blame on to helpless detainees.
* Remedies:*
We demand an independent investigation into the incident, which we believe, would reveal the real cause of the incident, and vindicate the detainees of all suspicion of *assault*, and allegations of *disruptive behaviour*.
We demand the removal of the D.C.M in question and his complete reassignment away from C-wing as his appearance could generate more animosity from detainees.
We demand a re-orientation of the entire staff of colnbrook.i.r.c, as they seem to be leaning to forceful proclivities, which at this time will only serve to aggravate detainees' delicate psychological balance.
We would also like to emphatically state that we will do everything to forestall any further incidents, but this would be impossible without the cooperation of the staff.
SIGNED
ALL INMATES, OF COLNBROOK .I.R.C
C-WING
see also http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/05/340072.html